Reggie Fils-Aime Retiring as Nintendo of America President, Doug Bowser to Take Over Role - News

by Adam Cartwright , posted on 21 February 2019 / 4,051 Views

After nearly 13 years as the president of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aime has announced he is to retire from the role and will be replaced by Doug Bowser (the current Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing) on the 15th of April.

Read the full press release below, via Businesswire:

"After more than 15 notable years at Nintendo of America, and nearly 13 as its President and COO, Reggie Fils-Aime will retire. His last day with Nintendo will be April 15. Doug Bowser, NOA’s current Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, will then succeed Reggie as President of Nintendo of America.“It has been my great fortune to work with and be mentored by Reggie for four years at Nintendo of America”

“I really appreciate everything Reggie has done for Nintendo,” said Shuntaro Furukawa, President of Nintendo Co., Ltd. “Inside and outside our company, Reggie is known as an exceptional leader. We are grateful that he is leaving the business in good shape with strong momentum. While we will miss him and we wish him the very best in his retirement, we are also pleased to have such an able successor ready to step into that role. Doug Bowser and the rest of the team will ensure a seamless transition and continued momentum for Nintendo.”

“Nintendo owns a part of my heart forever,” Fils-Aime said. “It’s a part that is filled with gratitude – for the incredibly talented people I’ve worked with, for the opportunity to represent such a wonderful brand, and most of all, to feel like a member of the world’s most positive and enduring gamer community. As I look forward to departing in both good health and good humor, this is not ‘game over’ for me, but instead ‘leveling up’ to more time with my wife, family and friends.”

“It has been my great fortune to work with and be mentored by Reggie for four years at Nintendo of America,” Bowser said. “And rest assured, we will continue to build on his work to evolve and expand our brand, furthering Nintendo’s global mission of creating smiles. There are millions more of those to come.”

Fils-Aime started at Nintendo of America in 2003 as its Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing and became its President and COO in May 2006. His time with Nintendo began during the Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance era. His leadership of Nintendo’s largest territory expanded the audience for Nintendo products as phenomena like Nintendogs, Brain Age, Wii Sportsand Wii Fit brought millions of new players to the world of video games. Fils-Aime’s management led to record-breaking sales for products like the Nintendo DS, Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch systems. At the same time, he communicated innovative new product features to a mass audience via his strong and affable personality, making him a favorite of media, members of the video game industry and Nintendo fans alike.

During his tenure, Nintendo of America has expanded its physical presence in the U.S., having established a key sales and marketing office in Redwood City, California, and built a new NOA headquarters in Redmond, Washington, that has received awards for its environmentally friendly design.

Bowser is an industry veteran who joined NOA in May 2015 as the Vice President of Sales before being promoted to Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing the next year. During his time at NOA, Bowser led the sales and marketing efforts for Nintendo Switch, which became the fastest-selling video game system of this hardware generation through 21 months, according to The NPD Group. Previously, Bowser was an executive with industry powerhouse Electronic Arts, most recently as the company’s Vice President of Global Business Planning. He also worked at Procter & Gamble in various sales leadership roles in Asia, Latin America and the U.S."

19 Comments

xMetroid (on 21 February 2019)

Reggie was such a great leader for Nintendo and really got into the humor with the community. I have faith in Doug for sure but still this is sad news. Hopefully he will make a cameo in the next Direct to say another goodbye.

Lucca (on 21 February 2019)

MY BODY IS NOT READY FOR THIS REGGIE

thomas995 (on 21 February 2019)

Bowser? Uh oh!

Jumpin (on 21 February 2019)

As someone suggested, Reggie should get an Amiibo! Especially since this Bowser guy already has two, and they’re HUGE!

Mospeada21CA (on 21 February 2019)

I love Reggie!! He deserves to have a Special and Limited Edition amiibo created and released in his honor for his services. Long live, King Reggie!! Thank you, thank you so much!! <3 <3 <3

StriderKiwi (on 21 February 2019)

I never expected Bowser to takeover the Mushroom Kingdom by moving up the corporate ladder.

AsGryffynn StriderKiwi (on 21 February 2019)

I came here to see the comments mentioning how Bowser would take over Nintendo.

Was not disappointed.

IamAwsome (on 21 February 2019)

He isn't that old. I'm surprised he's retiring so soon.

VAMatt IamAwsome (on 21 February 2019)

Anytime an executive departs, unless he is immediately moving into another oh, very public role, it's called a retirement. At his age, I'd be pretty damn surprised if he doesn't work again. And, considering his stature in the video game industry, I would not be surprised to see him pop up elsewhere in the business in the next year or two.