Doug Bowser will become the new head of Nintendo of America. The charismatic Reggie Fils-Aime is retiring.
Nintendo made the announcement that Fils-Aime will step down on April 15. Doug Bowser, currently the head of sales and marketing at Nintendo of America, will replace Fils-Aime as president.
Fils-Aime said in a news release: “Nintendo owns a part of my heart forever (…) 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.”
On the other hand, Bowser said: “It has been my great fortune to work with and be mentored by Reggie for four years at Nintendo of America (…) 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.”
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The rise of Fils-Aime
Fils-Aime joined Nintendo in 2003 as executive vice president of sales and marketing. Nintendo named him president and chief operating officer in 2006. Fils-Aime’s introduction to the broader gaming community came in 2004, when he appeared onstage at Nintendo’s annual E3 press conference and greeted the crowd saying, “My name is Reggie. I’m about kickin’ ass. I’m about takin’ names. And we’re about making games.”
As president of Nintendo, Fils-Aime oversaw the launch and success of the company’s wildly popular Wii and Nintendo 3DS platforms, as well as the less successful Wii U, and Nintendo’s current platform, the Switch.
Doug Bowser joined Nintendo in 2015 as vice president of sales. He previously worked at Electronic Arts and Procter & Gamble.
