Partially confirming last week's rumor, the Seattle Times is reporting that the sales, advertising and marketing divisions for Nintendo of America, totaling about 80 people, will be moved to either New York City or San Francisco. Meanwhile, the rest of NoA headquarters will remain in Redmond.

The decision is being seen as a replacement for earlier plans to expand its Redmond, WA offices an additional 550,000 square feet. According to Jim Roberts, deputy planning director for the city of Redmond speaking to the Seattle Times, though NoA had the proposal ready to go before the city council for approval, executives said that they needed final approval from the company's Japanese headquarters. "For one reason or another, it's been well over a year that we've been waiting for them to proceed," he said.

Nintendo is reportedly looking to sell the aforementioned 550,000 square feet of property; one real estate broker suggested that adjacent company Microsoft might consider purchasing the land. Now wouldn't that make for an interesting change of hands?