Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé speaking on stage at the 2018 GeekWire Summit. Fils-Aimé will step down as Nintendo of America’s president in April. (Photo by Dan DeLong for GeekWire)

Nintendo of America’s longtime president and COO Reggie Fils-Aimé is retiring and will be replaced by Doug Bowser.

Fils-Aimé, who has spent 15 years with the company, will step down in April. Bowser is the Redmond, Wash.-based division’s senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Doug Bowser. (Nintendo Photo)

Fils-Aimé said that “this is not ‘game over’ for me, but instead ‘leveling up’ to more time with my wife, family and friends.” Fils-Aimé took over his current role in 2006 and oversaw the expansion of Nintendo DS, Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch systems.

Fils-Aimé once described the company’s passion as “making our consumers smile.” Under his leadership, the company bounced back from disappointing sales of the Wii U to launch the Nintendo Switch, which debuted in 2017 and became one of the most successful gaming consoles of all time.

“Inside and outside our company, Reggie is known as an exceptional leader. We are grateful that he is leaving the business in good shape with strong momentum,” Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said in a statement. “Doug Bowser and the rest of the team will ensure a seamless transition and continued momentum for Nintendo.”

“It has been my great fortune to work with and be mentored by Reggie for four years at Nintendo of America,” Bowser said. “And rest assured, we will continue to build on his work to evolve and expand our brand, furthering Nintendo’s global mission of creating smiles. There are millions more of those to come.”

It didn’t take long for fans on Twitter to start making jokes about President Bowser taking over.

 

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