Nintendo's Success With Switch Made Reggie's Retirement Decision "Easy"

Reggie might be a bit of a meme but I do miss his energy compared to Doug Bowser, who’s a total corporate suit through and through. Nintendo are definitely missing a fun and engaging image like they used to have. Although it’s not like there are any Directs for that to even make a difference.

I’m going to pretend that I caused the Direct through my complaining 😂

Roll eyes
If Reggie feels the need to talk so much about Nintendo why doesn't he just go back to the company? What was the point of retiring? Unless it was "forced" retirement. He was/is a very loved figure in the US, but these interviews he is doing lately are just annoying.

But I miss him why did he go.

Even if Reggie doesn’t work for Nintendo anymore, it still feels like he’s part of the family and involved with them behind the scenes.

@jamesthemagi What was the point of retiring? He gets to do what he wants and can do an interview a few times a year about his previous job. I enjoy when people get to give some insight to jobs that they had to be tight-lipped about when they worked there. Especially when it is in a position that can be difficult to understand. Reggie had influence, but no power, really. He could say, "that is not going to go over well in the US", but Nintendo will do what Nintendo will do. Fans always wanted him to "just tell them" about things he could had no choice about revealing — even if he knew it would be better for the success of Nintendo in his territory. Depending on perspective some loved him, some thought he was a "joke", some hated him or at least what he had to say.

Personally, I think he did alright. As pointed out above, he gave a face to Nintendo in the US with some fun personality (subjective, I know!) and he seemed genuine in his love of Nintendo games and his admiration for Iwata and Miyamoto.

(He was an advocate for more Metroid games from what I could tell. I still want to know if he pushed for more contemporary cinematics and voice acting in Metroid — and how he reacted when he saw what the Metroid director came up with. That was really too bad, because if he did push for it, the idea was right — the execution missed the mark.)

God I miss the Miyamoto+Iwata+Reggie era of Nintendo, that was magical.

@Bl4ckb100d I hear you, but Wii U was in that era. I still enjoyed how they doubled-down on creativity and the future of their developers. Splatoon 2 wasn't just inventive it was Nintendo leaning on their younger developers. It was a promise of Nintendo's future and that was happening during a time where other companies might have chosen to go careful and rest on known successes only.

Reggie at least seemed like he was having a blast when he was working at Nintendo. He gave the company a lot of energy, enthusiasm and an image of fun.

Doug Bowser strikes me as nothing more than a stuffy corporate suit who seems to think he's still working at EA and not Nintendo. At least fake having passion for your job. Nintendo is the Disney of video games, and it should always give off the feeling of magic and fun. That was why people liked the directs and miss not having them anymore.

@nessisonett To be honest, Nintendo themselves have gone very corporate since the massive success of the switch, technically I know they have to be, but the president is nothing like Iwata, then again he was a lovely man and a gamer to begin with. I get the feeling that Nintendo see themselves as apple in some ways. They have an arrogance about them. It sounds bad but I like Nintendo more when they are struggling.

I do wish Takeda and Miyamoto would've made sure to pick a CEO that could carry on the legacy of Iwata on it's own. The reason that Nintendo has gotten where it is is partially due to each previous president spending years mentoring and tutoring the next one on how to carry the spirit of Nintendo, even Hiroshi who spent years assisting Iwata finalizing the DS and Wii.

I love reading up on Reggie’s comments and thoughts about Nintendo! he’s a class act!!

Oh boy... even though I have respect for Doug Bowser and the memes surrounding his last name, Nintendo has never been as magical and fun as they were with Reggie around. Sure, you can say that Doug Bowser never realistically got a chance to actually show a good public image, because of COVID disrupting a lot of stuff and whatnot, but it really seems like Bowser has been less involved with the marketing compared to Reggie.

@jamesthemagi Part of being a good President is knowing when you should step down and pass your torch to the next guy. The end portion of your tenure should be focused setting the next guy up for success.

Nope, I don't miss Reggie, though I keep trying. He makes more news now than before he retired.

I'm just glad Nintendo Life finally used a better picture of him instead of that one they keep using of him making that weird face.

He was an advocate for more Metroid games from what I could tell.

@aaronsullivan This is the first I've heard of it. Surely he wouldn't show his cards to the public, if so? This makes me wonder what sort of relationship he had with Retro Studios.

Amazing guy, i grew up with nintendo and as a child when i saw his face it was like seeing Nintendo as a company lol.

@Bl4ckb100d tho I love the Switch, many of its games, and especially the third party games we have gotten, I feel that Nintendo has lost some of its charm.

Much of this is due to the lack of fresh content over the last 15 months. I get that Nintendo wants to maximize its revenue and it doesn't need new releases with strong sales from ports and now nearly a year old Animal Crossing. But it has been a while since I have been truly excited about a new Nintendo title.

Reggie is right about the Switch solving a core, fundamental consumer desire. The hybrid design, the ability to be playing a game and seamlessly pick it up and keep playing it on the go, without so much as having to pause it, is truly something magical. In fact, I didn't even realize just how much I really would enjoy it until I had it. When I saw it when it was announced, I thought it was really cool. But when I brought it home on launch day and started playing it? It's become an obsession, and nearly 4 years later, hardly a day goes by that I don't play it.

The Switch is hands down my favorite gaming device ever! I own more games on it than for any other device I have ever owned by a significant margin, and regularly make use of both modes.

I really want the Switch to continue in the manner the Game Boy did. I want Nintendo to take this idea and keep improving it. When we get a Switch Pro or Switch 2, I want it to be a better Switch, keep the core idea there and just make it better.

All I'd want from a successor device is:

1. 1080p screen for portable with less space wasted around the edges
2. A second SD card slot. This strikes me as the easiest way to allow us to expand storage without having to fork out more than the cost of the system on a single huge card.
3. Native Bluetooth audio support. Let me sync any modern set of wireless headphones to the device.
4. Improved battery. I'd aim for 5 hours minimum playtime for the most demanding games. 7-9 for low demand games.
5. Full backwards compatibility with the existing Switch library, both physical and digital, and let us simply download any digital titles we had on our original devices, onto the new device at no extra charge.
6. Improved online offerings. Even at the expense of a more expensive premium plan. Expand NSO to have Game Boy, GBC, GBA, N64 and GameCube titles with new titles being added on a regular basis. Also give us home menu themes, native messaging(that can be restricted by parental controls), and generally more stable online functionality across the board.

Everything I want from a new Switch, is taking what we basically already have, and building off of it. For once Nintendo, you don't and I think you shouldn't try to reinvent the wheel. You already have an amazing device! Something with very little direct competition on the market. Go with it! Build on it!

@Bl4ckb100d We don't even hear much from Miyamoto anymore. Feels like Sukurai is the only one who keeps that spirit alive. Wish he was Nintendo president!

@Slowdive
Isn't that common? Current employees are bound by NDAs while former employees are not.

" The day that I sat with Mr. Iwata and held a prototype Switch"

And there's that confirmation of what we knew but hadn't heard directly like that, that switch is wholly Iwatas platform. At least when it started before new management pulled a Sony, went radio silent and stopped releasing info, games, or anything.

@kingbk omg i forgot Doug was EA! No wonder Nintendo feels like EA these days...

@Bl4ckb100d Yeah, it was so fun being a Nintendo fan then and getting like we're all part of the same community then. Now it's just a manufacturer that puts product at distribution. Like Unilever or Rubbermaid. Same goes for Sony. Xbox is the only fun community oriented company now, and it's freaking Microsoft......

@Clyde_Radcliffe Ishihara at tpc is still a true Iwata club member as well. But one of a few of a don't breed. Nintendo doesn't get "fun"anymore inside, it feels like 80s Nintendo. And miyamotos busy with parks and tv.

Legend love his positivity and charisma. A great advocate for all things Nintendo xx

I’m going to say it, I don’t like Doug Bowser. Maybe he’ll be a good president in the way that he’ll earn Nintendo a lot of revenue but as a face of the company, he’s doing a terrible job at it even though his surname already makes his entry pretty easy. It’s like he doesn’t put any effort into it because he thinks his surname will carry him to the heart of the consumers.

Wonder how Reggie felt the first time he held a Wii U...

I love how people are judging current presidents of Nintendo based on....I have no idea. It's not like they have personal dealings with them. They might have had all sorts of plans for things but I would say right now's not really the best environment for being public facing. Even when Reggie was more public facing people still moaned that he only ever spouted hot air, so they can't win. I think there's some sort of pandemic going on.

Traditionally tight lipped company goes back to being traditionally tight lipped? I dunno.

Reggie's a PR dude, and he's always wrapped up in a certain amount of corporate smooth talking. But you can still tell he had a great time working at Nintendo.

@WiltonRoots,

Well exactly, and even though Reggie had a very visible public profile, I doubt very much if he influenced a lot of decisions, that all comes from Japan.

I think somebody said in a comment they prefer it when Nintendo is struggling, as when Nintendo are doing well it does not seem the fit well with some on internet forums, so they feel they have to put the success down to other factors, rather than giving the company the credit they deserve.

Never got the hype with this dude. He sounds like a boring corporate figure, who occasionally creates trending moments. I would love to see what he’s like at home.

is it just me, he looks like bowser from mario games looool

Bowser does seem to lack the same passion and that reflects on the mystique of Nintendo's brand. Of course he may good at his job but gamers want more of a personality and less of a suit when they look at the company.

Doug Bowser was doomed from the start for the unforgivable crime of 'not being Reggie'

@johnvboy Yep some of these people just want the same thing over and over and over again, unfortunately in the real world things don't work like that. They're all moments in time.

I guess even he knew the Wii U wasn't going to be magical

Reggie was a meme, but I liked his energy and presence. He was a good frontman for the company.
Bowser....well I can't say much of anything. I've barely seen or heard anything from him.

I like Reggie, but with his pay, I highly doubt it would have made a difference other than he didn't want to exit on a failure for his own image. CEOs are paid at such a stupid rate that retirement can be done with 5 yrs for most, so this take just doesn't pan out for me. Still wish he was CEO as I just enjoyed his great attitude and the fun he brought, which is completely gone now.

@COVIDberry Well Metroid Other M got made, for instance. Metroid was never a success in Japan (even the Prime series), yet it was going head-to-head with Halo in the US (strange match-up, I know, but that is why Metroid Prime 2 had a multiplayer component and there was Metroid Prime Hunters).

The first time I noticed was when he was quizzing people in line at the Nintendo Store in New York City about what Nintendo anniversary it was that day, and no one in line knew, but it was the release of Metroid. He knew the name had clout in the US — his job is essentially PR and bridging to the US market — and I wondered if he was always pushing for a Metroid game with full voice acting (none of the main Nintendo games had it) Nintendo, infamously, took a creative direction with the games to probably widen the audience to include Japanese gamers, but it backfired and lacked appeal for Metroid's core Western audience, both with Metroid Other M and Metroid Federation Force.

"At least a few years"? Sounds like he doesn't have confidence in Nintendo's long-term success.

And I'm still trying to figure out exactly what Reggie did for Nintendo beyond simply being a charismatic frontman who had mastered the art of speaking in entire paragraphs while saying nothing at all. What did he do during his time as NOA president that helped the company be successful?

@Heavyarms55
And a more powerful chip and RAM!

Yes because it's totally dependent on Reggie whether or not Nintendo makes it or breaks it 🙄 😄

He stayed with Nintendo during their hardest time and left when he knew everything was great. Makes me happy.

@WiltonRoots I'd say the personality and approach from the leadership has significant effect on the corporate culture and public presence of the company, for good or for bad, though. Iwata was very bent in creating a public face for the faceless corporation and made it a priority of his tenure to connect the company, it's management, and it's developers to it's fans and foster a direct relationship. That carried over to reggie to a lesser degree. The new regime is pure corporate spreadsheet divers. They live in the green bands. They may be effective leaders at managing capital and investor driven growth targets, but they severed the company's relationship with the customer instead reverted to being simply a distant corporation.

It's the same so Sony. Former management "got it" and fostered that relationship with fans. Kaz Hirai, Andrew House, Shaun Layden, Shu Yoshida. Then in came Jim Ryan and Ken Yoshida the former cfo. And they cancel all the events, go silent and become the faceless entertainment conglomerate they used to be.

Neither company is really fun to watch anymore. They just make product. We're consumers and buy product. Nothing more than that.

Microsoft otoh was the icon of corporate facelessness and distance. Then Spencer, Hryb, Booty, Bond came in and gave it a face, personality, and attitude and directly connected to consumers. They're fun to follow. They engage the fans directly. It makes me want to engage with their platform, in turn.

As a business decision it appears successful, upward trending organizations hire "safe" money and growth managers to not rock the boat and keep an distant we possible from the hand that feeds them. Striking companies seem to respect the value an engaged customer base offers and makes effort to engage with it.

Thus as video game enthusiasts, it would appear that the idea that a struggling company is simply the more fun one to engage with is valid.

There's nothing fun about engaging with Nintendo the company right now. Nothing at all. The products are fine, but the company itself doesn't want to be engaged with. It was incredible fun in Iwatas era.

@NEStalgia Yeah it happens sometimes, one of those things though, you can't ask someone to be Reggie when they're not Reggie, likewise you can't ask Furukawa to step into the shoes of Iwata, the biggie being how few Japanese actually speak English and are confident enough to stand in front of a camera. I did find it funny though that Kimishima became a meme for doing very little. Just having a look about him.

I think as well this "face of the company" thing is mainly targeted towards people who visit sites like this and post on social media, people who game a lot. Outside of that circle, I don't think anyone really cares. Much the same as E3. To the main consumers it's just not that important.

If I asked my colleague or the the average Joe who has a Switch who Reggie or Miyamoto was you'd get a blank stare. Much the same as if I asked my boss who has an Xbox who Phil Spencer is, he'd say it's the dude who presents Location, Location, Location on Channel 4.

@WiltonRoots I think the problem is all these companies are aware of the value of the core fanbase. It's a critical market for them all in many ways. But when they turn successful, they start being more controlled by the investors, and that means turning over power to pure business-minded spreadsheet dwellers. The spreadsheet dwellers recognize the wider market potential compared to the core, and more or less abandon the core as they persue that broad market. Even Iwata himself did exactly that in the Wii era.

The problem is it's karma. Over time the core market then tends to lose interest. When the more fickle mass market re-evaluates the market they look at where that core is making noise and go that way. Then another company that was engaging the core gets the spoils, and the management gets restructured again at the formerly successful companies to try to capture and hold onto a core audience through active engagement.

The pattern seems to follow for all the companies.
Nintendo's base shrank through N64 and GCN, and that's when Reggie, Iwata, Miyamoto started happening as a showpiece. Through Wii however they became successful and disconnected from the community (which Iwata recognized as an error.) Then with early 3DS onward things were tense and they connected incredibly focused with the fans. Only to disconnect again with the mass market Switch success.

Sony had close engagement with PS1, but with the runaway success of PS2 became detached. That lead to "get a second job" PS3 launch. And a situation nearly as dire as WiiU. They connected extremely well in the early PS4 years. Then once that became a runaway hit they replaced all the management with spreadsheet dwellers and "media executives" who actively shut down all consumer connection.

Same for XB who went into it as "Because we're Microsoft", then dominated their markets with 360, started chasing Wii and ignoring the core, lost their shirts, then went hard to community engagement, which is where they still are. If Series becomes a runaway hit, you bet there's a management shakeup and the kinds of people who tried doubling the price of Gold subs last month take over again.

It's a shame. Because they all lose when they disconnect from "us" - we're not their biggest market, but we make up the foundation the rest of that big market is built on. Over and over they forget that, then lose us, then lose the big market as a result, and then have to appeal to us to win it all back. Which they do. Then they blow it again.

2011-2017 Nintendo was incredibly fun to watch. Watching the company was as fun and encompassing as the products. 2013-2015 Sony was fun to participate in. Currently Xbox is fun to participate in, and the other two, not so much.

So help me if today's direct is another polished 3rd party PR firm presentation with a VA over packaged display graphics without direct presentation from execs I'm going to flip some tea tables.

@NEStalgia Good post mate. It's at that point now at the local homeware shop where they see me turn up and look at plates, they're like "Nintendo Direct?" I wish I could find a clip of Vic Reeves smashing crockery...it's definitely gif worthy.