The head of Nintendo Europe's marketing division has left Nintendo for good after working for the company for more than a decade.

For those unaware of Jim Merrick, he most recently broke various pieces of news about the Revolution - memorably making his '14 week claim', that Nintendo would only take that long to release the console worldwide. He also oversaw the succesful launch of the Nintendo DS and the Wi-Fi Connection in Europe.

The news he will leave the company for good comes just a month after it was announced he would be leaving NoE to rejoin Nintendo of America where he worked for six years prior to his NoE placement, however it appears this is now no longer the case.

He has been at Nintendo of Europe since the start of 2003 - and was a more than worthy replacement for his lacklustre predecessor, David "Go-sen" Gosen. Nintendo has yet to announce who Merrick's successor will be.

"After nearly 12 years with Nintendo, the last three of which were at Nintendo of Europe, Jim Merrick has left the company to pursue other opportunities," Nintendo has commented. "We will be announcing the new European marketing director the coming weeks."

More as it breaks.