Doug Bowser to take over as president in April
Reggie Fils-Aimé, the beloved president of Nintendo of America — NOA —, abruptly announced that he would be retiring. The move came with no prior hint that his retirement was even being considered. He will officially step down from the position on April 15, and Doug Bowser will take over as president of the company.
In a heartfelt video message to fans, Fils-Aimé formally announced his retirement.
“Thank you for your never-ending support and for your passionate love of Nintendo, and personally, for giving me a mushroom kingdom full of incredible memories I will never forget, ever,” Fils-Aimé said.
For the remainder of the video, Fils-Aimé references some of his experiences while at NOA, and talks about his love for games and the company. Fils-Aimé also states the reason for his departure is to spend more time with his friends and family.
Before the end of the video, Fils-Aimé takes a moment to reassure fans that incoming president, Doug Bowser, is more than capable of the job.
“Doug is a passionate and powerful leader, and a guy who in his youth, probably spent too much time in front of a Donkey Kong arcade machine. Inside Nintendo, people already know him as a driving force, you’ll come to see that too. With a name like Bowser, who better to hold the keys to the castle.”
Fils-Aimé ends the video reassuring fans that he is in good health and good spirits, referencing the now infamous line, “my body is ready.” The line instantly became a meme after Fils-Aimé appeared at E3 in 2007 to showcase the Wii Balance Board, uttering the phrase when asked if he was ready to demonstrate the product.
Fils-Aimé will be preceded by Doug Bowser, currently head of sales and marketing at NOA. Bowser publicly stated his respect for the soon to be former president.
“It has been my great fortune to work 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”.
Fils-Aimé has been president of NOA since May 2006. While at Nintendo, Fils-Aimé oversaw the release of three game consoles and two handheld consoles. The latest console release that he oversaw was the Nintendo Switch, the Switch has sold 32.27 million units according to Nintendo.
Within minutes countless fans of Fils-Aimé and NOA took to Twitter, and various other social media sites, to express their gratitude. Tweets thanking the president of NOA came from a range of sources including Phil Spencer, executive vice president of Gaming at Microsoft, to Geoff Keighley, creator/producer of The Game Awards.
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