Former Nintendo President Reggie Fils-Aime Reveals Why He Left GameStop
Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has shared new light on his surprise exit from the GameStop board of directors, saying in an interview at SXSW (via Bloomberg) that it came down to being locked out of conversations about how to turn the ship around.
Before explaining why he left, Fils-Aime discussed why he joined in the first place. After leaving Nintendo, Fils-Aime joined GameStop's board of directors in April 2020, at the onset of the pandemic and with some thinking GameStop would go bankrupt before the launch of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. So why would Fils-Aime join a company with a less-than-rosy outlook for the future?
He explained that, at the time, he believed GameStop had the potential to be successful if its management took the right steps and had an action plan.
«I believed that the company could be successful. I believed that with taking the right action that certainly the company would exist in time for the launch of the new systems. And a company that services the core gaming audience the way they do would be able to have a successful future,» he said.
Fils-Aime said GameStop needed to pivot in a number of ways, including ramping up its ecommerce portfolio and services and generally finding ways to better satisfy its customer base. The PS5 and Series X|S released in November 2021 and GameStop remained solvent as Fils-Aime said the retailer was able to maximize its riches from those systems and the more profit-driving games sold for them.
At this time, billionaire business entrepreneur Ryan Cohen, the founder of online pet food company Chewy, had assumed control of GameStop. Fils-Aime said Cohen pushed for «more aggressive change» at GameStop. What's more, Fils-Aime said
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