NOA President Reggie Fils-Aime Retiring; Doug Bowser Will Reign
Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime has announced his plans to retire from the company on April 15, 2019. He has been through the ups and downs of the video game giant’s systems, from the late GameCube years to the prosperous Nintendo DS and Wii times, and back down with the Wii U, and finally ending on a high note with the Switch.
I still remember seeing him for the first time at E3 way back at Nintendo’s press conference in 2004. He took to Nintendo’s stage and proudly claimed that Nintendo was back. He showed off the Nintendo DS for the first time and brought the conference to an uproarious end with the first look at The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Later that year I was fortunate enough to be invited to Nintendo of America headquarters to play Metroid Prime 2 and get more hands-on with the Nintendo DS before they launched. It was here that I actually had time to chat with Reggie one-on-one and he’s truly a nice guy who is passionate about video games and knows the market. He will be sorely missed! All of us at Nintendo Times wish him the best of luck with the rest of his life. Maybe now he can find those extra hours to pour into Dragon Quest XI when it arrives on the Switch later this year. I know how much he adores that series!
Doug Bowser, the current Senior VP of Sales and Marketing will be taking Reggie’s spot this April. While we have yet to meet him in person, he seems like a great fit for the role and we’re hopeful Nintendo will continue to be as prosperous as ever. For now, check out the special video that Reggie recorded thanking all Nintendo fans for their support for all of these years:
Nintendo fans, Reggie has a message for all of you. Please take a look. pic.twitter.com/EAhaEl5oEJ
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 21, 2019
OFFICIAL PR:
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.
“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 Sports and 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.
Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.
