His body was ready to retire
Reggie Fils-Aimé is legendary. I mean, he helped make the Bigfoot Pizza a reality!
But really people … the bigfoot pizza ruled. But really, Reggie Fils-Aimé is easy to become better known for his tournament at Nintendo of America, where he brought a much more welcome bigger person than the world into the world to give Nintendo the gravitas he needed. According to Reggie, the Switch similarly concluded the deal upon his retirement.
As he puts it with Gamertag Radio: “Frankly, knowing it was going to be successful made my retirement decision easy because I knew the company would be in good shape for at least a few years.” Reggie talks about the sheer power of Nintendo when it comes to portable systems and says that the “hair on the back of [his] neck stood up ‘when he first saw the Nintendo DS.
Reggie talks about how the Switch went differently than the Wii U, noting: ‘And I say this because the system has solved a key complaint, and the complaint is that I’m having fun, I’m playing my game and now I have to stop because I have to go to work, or I have to go to school, and I can not take my game with me. I can no longer play. So switch, with the opportunity to play on it big screen TV, then take it out of the dock and go play in hand mode, it satisfies a fundamental desire of the consumer. It was the trigger moment. There were so many other smart things the company did – the support for Unity and Unreal, which allowed all the great independent content to come. A number of other important decisions. ‘
It was a fascinating hearing from Reggie during his retirement: you would think he was not even retired at all, given how many speeches and podcasts he appeared. But when he does speak, it is very easy to listen. He’s the type of person who always feels like his job is never finished, and if the switch is a hit, it can give him the comfort of stepping back and taking time for himself.
An interview with Reggie Fils-Aimé [YouTube via Nintendo Life]
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