His body was ready to retire
Reggie Fils-Aimé is legendary. I mean, he helped make Pizza do Pé Grande a reality!
But seriously, folks … bigfoot pizza dominated. But really, Reggie Fils-Aimé is easily best known for his stint at Nintendo of America, where he brought a great and very welcome personality to the world to give Nintendo the seriousness it needed. According to Reggie, the Switch kind of sealed the deal on his retirement.
As he said when speaking to Gamertag Radio: “Frankly, knowing that I was going to succeed was what helped facilitate my retirement decision, because I knew the company would be in great shape for at least a few years.” Reggie talks about the absolute power of Nintendo when it comes to portable systems, saying that the “hair on the back of the [his] neck lifted “when he first saw the Nintendo DS.
Reggie talks about how the Switch worked differently from Wii U, noting: “And I say this because the system was resolving an important player complaint, and that complaint is: I’m having fun, I’m playing my game and now I need to stop because I have to work, or I have to go to school, and I can’t take my game with me. I can’t keep playing this game. It fulfilled a fundamental consumer desire. That was the starting point. The company did many other smart things – support for Unity and Unreal, which allowed all great independent content to come. A number of other important decisions. “
It was fascinating to hear from Reggie during his retirement: you would think he didn’t even retire, considering the amount of lectures and podcasts in which he appeared. But whenever he speaks, it is very easy to hear. He’s the type of person who always feels like his job never ends, so having the Switch as a success could give him the comfort he needed to step back and make time for himself.
A conversation with Reggie Fils-Aimé [YouTube via Nintendo Life]
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