To most people, Nintendo is a video game company. The name might spark memories of classic games like Mario, the Legend of Zelda or Pokemon.
But Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé sees the company differently.
“From our viewpoint, Nintendo is an entertainment company,” Fils-Aimé told Todd Bishop, GeekWire’s co-founder, on stage at the 2018 GeekWire Summit. “Our passion is making our consumers smile and we do it a variety of different ways today.”
That smile may come from playing a Nintendo video game, he said, but it could also appear while watching the upcoming animated Super Mario movie, visiting the soon-to-open Nintendo theme park inside Universal Studios Japan or even chowing down on Super Mario themed breakfast cereal.
The projects Fils-Aimé touched upon come after a dramatic turnaround for the company. Its Wii U console was something of a letdown and the company appeared to be in a tight spot before the launch of the successful Nintendo Switch last year.
Fils-Aimé said that kind of reinvention is “in our DNA.”
“We reinvent ourselves every five, ten years,” he said. “We have to, in this fast-moving entertainment business.”
Hear highlights from GeekWire’s interview with Fils-Aimé on our Geared Up podcast in the player above or watch the full talk in the video at the top of this story.