Submit a news tip



Reggie Fils-Aime

There aren’t many people at Nintendo that understands the company more than Reggie Fils-Aime. The former Nintendo of America president spent 15 years with the company, was in charge of many big decisions, and communicated with all sorts of staff (including top developers) throughout his time there.

In an interview with IGN, Reggie discussed Nintendo’s commitment to innovation. With everything that’s been done over the years, he said “just about every element of modern gaming was started by Nintendo.”

Reggie’s full words:

Reggie Fils-Aime

The New York Videogame Critics Circle has announced that it will honor former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime with its Andrew Yoon Legend Award at the 9th annual New York Game Awards ceremony. The event will take place on January 21, 2020 at SVA Theatre in Manhattan.

Reggie said in a statement today:

Wii was one of Nintendo’s better-performing systems having sold over 100 million units worldwide. However, that success wasn’t always guaranteed. Especially before release, questions were raised over Wii’s name and its heavy use of motion controls.

Former Nintendo of America president Reggie-Fils Aime looked back on Wii during his recent lecture at Cornell. The platform, he said, came about due to Nintendo feeling there was “a lack of innovation in games and consoles”. He also called the “interaction between players and the game” led by Wii and Wii Sports (which itself was a huge hit) “a gutsy call that paid off.”

Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime may have retired from the company, but he hasn’t stepped away from the limelight entirely. Reggie has been giving lectures and speeches regularly – the latest of which was held at Cornell last night.

The full speech is expected to be posted online eventually. However, we do have a summary of a few points shared thanks to someone in attendance.

Here are a few tidbits:

Reggie Fils-Aime passed over the role of Nintendo of America’s president to Doug Bowser earlier this year. Reggie retired in April, making Bowser the new boss.

Recently, Mashable spoke with Bowser, who talked about the most important thing Reggie shared with him. He pointed to the importance and admiration of Nintendo’s characters, as well as the fans’ passion. Ultimately, Bowser views his top priority as making people smile.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune caught up with former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime after he delivered a commencement address at Ringling College. The interview delved into Reggie’s start at Nintendo, as well as what the fan reaction was like to the news regarding his retirement and more.

Here’s the full interview:

It was the end of an era this week with Reggie Fils-Aime retiring from Nintendo of America. Reggie had a lengthy stay with the Big N having been there for over 15 years, including his role as president for 13 years.

Reggie was very different compared to your average company executive. He developed a fan following thanks to his personality, various appearances, and meme-worthy moments. Reggie was on stage at E3, in video presentations, at launches for new systems and games, and more. He was never afraid to embrace the community or poke fun at himself either.

Since Reggie has retired from Nintendo, we want to know what your favorite memory is of him during his time at the company. Was it his initial introduction at E3 2004? The time when he said “What’s wrong with you?” if you didn’t own a 3DS during one of the first showings of a Nintendo Direct presentation? Let us know in the comments below.

Update (4/18): We’ve updated this post with another one of Reggie’s retirement gifts.


Original (4/17): As the former Nintendo of America president, Reggie Fils-Aime was a big deal. He had plenty of respect inside the company, and was also beloved by fans.

Reggie might have retired from Nintendo, but he was most definitely sent off in style. A number of lovely gifts were sent his way, including a working Virtual Boy, art from Retro Studios, a “notebook for names taken,” “a plastic ass to kick,” a book of notes from employees, a Mario statue, and a special art piece.

Here’s a look:

Reggie Fils-Aime

We knew this day was coming, and now it’s finally here. Reggie Fils-Aime, who spent more than 15 years at Nintendo of America and has been the company’s president for well over a decade, has retired. Today was his last day at Nintendo.

Doug Bowser is stepping into the role of president for Nintendo of America, as previously announced. Bowser previously acted as senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Reggie will definitely be missed, but he was able to depart on his own terms and he is leaving Nintendo in a good place. Now he’s earned a much-deserved break and intends to spend more time with his wife, family and friends.

Many gaming developers, industry insiders, and executives have joined social media over the years, but there’s one bigwig who has stayed away from the fun: Reggie Fils-Aime. Now that Reggie is retiring from Nintendo, he’s decided to hop on board the Twitter train. You can follow him here.

Reggie has currently shared the following tweet:


Manage Cookie Settings