To further elaborate on this, we would like to share with you the unedited feelings of one ex-employee who wishes to remain nameless.
"Over time I became amazed at the sense of paranoia that permeated everything at Retro. There were security cameras mounted every twenty feet in our halls, and it was common knowledge that they were for keeping track of the employees rather than protecting against anyone breaking in. Apparently the network administrator had to provide a daily sheet detailing the Internet use of every employee." Our source continues, "We were micromanaged on little things like how long we took for lunch. Retro had made a big point of hiring seasoned industry veterans to work there, but there was a major drawback to that: they had a company full of people who knew they could get better jobs elsewhere, and they often did. The common line was that employees were 'not staying at Retro in droves'. It was not uncommon to have new employees leave two or three weeks after starting. It honestly felt a little like living in a communist block country: you kind of didn't know who to trust, who would rat on you, that sort of thing."
The story only gets more interesting, as our source recalls, "They had also hired quite a few egos - we had several guys who could not abide competition and would torpedo any potential employee who they thought might upstage them, at least until the rest of us pointed out that trend and the head of the art department stopped consulting them. The feeling of the place was secretive and paranoid - not at all good for creative output. The work areas were almost all in a walled-off, black painted interior part of the building where no natural light could reach. All-in-all not a pleasant place to spend your time." He continues, "And there were indeed issues with the higher-ups, including people who used company computer hardware to run porn websites out of their home and others who embezzled hundreds of thousands from the company and fled the country. It's no wonder that Nintendo was able to purchase Retro for the ridiculous price of one million - I'm amazed they wanted it at all. I guess at that point they were in so far they needed to get something out of it."
http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/12/18/a-retrospective-the-story-of-retro-studios?page=8
Damn lol.