Most North American Nintendo fans will be familiar with the name of Reggie Fils-Aime, the current head of Nintendo of America. It appears that his body is no longer ready, however, as 2019 will be his last year with the company. On April 15, he will retire from his position at Nintendo, and will be replaced by Doug Bowser, the VP of sales and marketing. Reggie began work at NOA 15 years ago, starting as the VP of marketing in 2003, and quickly rising to the rank of president in 2006, becoming well known to fans in the region through his personality and jokes during conferences and Nintendo Direct videos.

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.

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

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[spotanjo3]

Retirement is not something you have to be a certain age, possibly modified by sex or disability, to do. You can declare yourself retired at any point you like, though it is better if you have the means/money/funds/wealth/riches/assets/... to support yourself there. Many pension schemes, government driven pensions and such will have an age gate but you don't have to have/take those.

I have met people that retired in their teenage years -- they got a good business going, sold that, got a small inheritance, got some investments and they earn enough money that they never have to work again. Thus they are retired.

Interesting about teenage years.. You can retire after 10 years ? I understand social security said you can get disability after 10 years of working.. In Europe, I think 5 years. But I dont know about retirement.. after 10 years also ?

 

[FAST6191]

Interesting about teenage years.. You can retire after 10 years ? I understand social security said you can get disability after 10 years of working.. In Europe, I think 5 years. But I dont know about retirement.. after 10 years also ?

Europe, and the US for that matter, is hardly a monolith.

Again retirement is a term that means different things to different people and is not an official status, give or take some aspects of military, civil service, police and such. You don't have to be drawing a state pension to be retired. You don't even have to not be working -- plenty of people I know work in retirement, some because they have to, some because they want to (they get bored or they want to help people), some because they want to be able to afford fancy holidays and new toys (usually old cars).

UK wise retiring with disability is not really a thing. You can claim disability if you are assessed as disabled -- no need to try to squeeze out so many years or something and it is a separate concept really. I don't know the specifics of being disabled and then reaching retirement age offhand.

 

[Longshot56]

Europe, and the US for that matter, is hardly a monolith.

Again retirement is a term that means different things to different people and is not an official status, give or take some aspects of military, civil service, police and such. You don't have to be drawing a state pension to be retired. You don't even have to not be working -- plenty of people I know work in retirement, some because they have to, some because they want to (they get bored or they want to help people), some because they want to be able to afford fancy holidays and new toys (usually old cars).

UK wise retiring with disability is not really a thing. You can claim disability if you are assessed as disabled -- no need to try to squeeze out so many years or something and it is a separate concept really. I don't know the specifics of being disabled and then reaching retirement age offhand.

IDK about the UK, but retired is a title, as you are a senior citizen and have Social Security. Having a disability and retired changes nothing.

 

[FAST6191]

IDK about the UK, but retired is a title, as you are a senior citizen and have Social Security. Having a disability and retired changes nothing.

I had a quick scan of some US government websites (for a start https://www.usa.gov/retirement mentioning nothing of the matter), and a general search, and could not find anything about retired being a title, outside of the retired [insert trade or profession]. A search for retired title mainly comes back to things dealing with vehicles.

 

[spotanjo3]

Europe, and the US for that matter, is hardly a monolith.

Again retirement is a term that means different things to different people and is not an official status, give or take some aspects of military, civil service, police and such. You don't have to be drawing a state pension to be retired. You don't even have to not be working -- plenty of people I know work in retirement, some because they have to, some because they want to (they get bored or they want to help people), some because they want to be able to afford fancy holidays and new toys (usually old cars).

UK wise retiring with disability is not really a thing. You can claim disability if you are assessed as disabled -- no need to try to squeeze out so many years or something and it is a separate concept really. I don't know the specifics of being disabled and then reaching retirement age offhand.

I know that.. But I dont know about retirement.. You can retirement after 10 years according to Social Security and 5 years in Europe? I just want to understand.

 

[the_randomizer]

Only in a video game world reality would Bowser be the president of NOA, but it's real; what a weird thing to realize xD

 

[FAST6191]

I know that.. But I dont know about retirement.. You can retirement after 10 years according to Social Security and 5 years in Europe? I just want to understand.

Europe has dozens of states/countries/regions within it and they all do things somewhat differently, and the US is similarly split around regions though it does have the national level social security thing.

Most places will only allow you to draw on their national level pensions if you are above a certain age, and most private ones are geared similarly. There are no real "pay in for ? years and then retire". What you might be referring to is certain schemes or levels thereof will only pay out, or pay out more, if you have first paid into them for so many years/periods. The UK's one is called national insurance (though older people might still refer to it as your stamp) https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions#toc-0 and runs from 16 until you hit retirement, and they care about gaps in it.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Man, Reggie has been there ever since the first E3 stream I ever watched, he's essentially the face of Nintendo. I'm sure the new guy will do a great job, and with a name like that he's perfect for the job, but it will take time getting used to seeing someone else's face in the occasional Direct and E3 stream rather than Reggie. Reggie's weird skits were always good for a laugh and he's way more charismatic than the new guy.

Pic related:

 

[Noctosphere]

Nobody's body was ready for this.

 

[chrisrlink]

cue in the new robot chicken skits remember the 2014 e3 skit with reggie?

 

[pasc]

With this Nintendo is no longer Nintendo.

R.I.P. Ninty. You where always there for me. Thanks for the GBA and NDS. *bows*

 

[Noctosphere]

cue in the new robot chicken skits remember the 2014 e3 skit with reggie?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQz7qr8akp8

 

[codezer0]

I don't go saying this to anyone, and at least a few heads of Nintendo definitely earned my ire.

but Reggie? Nah... he's earned this.

So, to dear Reggie?

Thank you, for your service.

 

[MRTMW]

What a shame. Hopefully he enjoys his retirement.

 

[Vexcrate]

Saddest part is... Soon we're gonna have a Doug Bowsette.

 

[hatchcanon]

Aw I loved the guy, he will be missed

 

[the_randomizer]

cue in the new robot chicken skits remember the 2014 e3 skit with reggie?

Nerd: Come on, Reggie, give us Mother 3!
Reggie: How about this instead? *hurls fireball*

lol

 

[Pleng]

I know that.. But I dont know about retirement.. You can retirement after 10 years according to Social Security and 5 years in Europe? I just want to understand.

I think you're confusing "being retired" (no longer working) with "drawing a pension" (receiving payout from a pension fund, state or private).

Every country has something similar to a "minimum retirement age", however it's a bit of a misnomer, as it is in fact simpley the age that you can draw the government sponsored retirement benefit (pension). Private pension plans usually also have a (more lenient) minimum age at which you can draw on it's benefits.

Just because you are retired, it doesn't mean that you are drawing a pension. Reggie is most certainly wealthy enough to support himself without having to draw any kind of pension, state funded or otherwise. He is no longer working, nor seeking future employment, thus he is retired.

 

[GuyInDogSuit]

The irony that his replacement is named Doug Bowser is not lost on me.

 

[Pleng]

The irony that his replacement is named Doug Bowser is not lost on me.

And neither has it been mentioned even *once* in the last 7 pages...