“My name is Reggie. I’m about kickin’ ass, I’m about takin’ names, and we’re about makin’ games.”
At the Nintendo E3 press conference in 2004 the world(and internet) were introduced to Nintendo’s new Vice President of Sales and Marketing – Reggie Fils-Aime. Today Reggie, or as the internet dubbed him ” The Regginator” announced he will be retiring from his current position as President and Chief Operating Office of Nintendo of America as of April 15. He has been with Nintendo since December 2003 and has been the President and COO since May 2006.
Reggie immediately made an impact with fans old and new, he brought with Nintendo a charisma and personality that had been absent from corporate Nintendo. Historically the executives at Nintendo had always been the conservative, almost robotic type and this new guy was clearly the opposite. Reggie was able to bring Nintendo back as a industry leader in the video game industry. In 2003, people were preparing to bury Nintendo. The Gamecube while having excellent first party games like The Legend of Zelda : The Windwaker , Super Smash Bros : Melee , and Metroid Prime, was lagging behind in games being developed for the console. It was been left in the dust by Sony and Microsoft with the Playstation 2 and Xbox and the emergence of online console gaming. It seemed like the sun had set on Nintendo and it was going to go the way of game companies like Atari and Sega before it. Reggie was able to help guide Nintendo back with more modern, aggressive marketing. He brought personality to the company and oversaw a revitalization, or “Reggie-lution” rather of the brand which includes the marketing and sales of the Wii, 3DS, and most recently the Switch. I’m not going to leave out mention of the general feeling the Wii U was an epic failure, though I don’t think it was THAT bad of a console. (FACTOID : Reggie also worked for corporate Pizza Hut and was behind the Bigfoot and Big New Yorker pizzas….for those of us old enough to remember).
Reggie Fils-Aime’s positions with Nintendo of America will be assumed by the current Head of Sales – Doug Bowser….yes…..BOWSER. The future president of Nintendo is name Bowser…..lol….ok sorry! I’m sad to see “the Regginator” move on from his position at Nintendo, but we’ll always have the memes…..
Gaming Omnivore 