Topic: Nintendo Of America Executes Executive Shuffle: Bowser To Retire, New CEO, First Female President

[Shaymin]

So long, King Bowser.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/72584/nintendo-of-america-executes-executive-shuffle-bowser-to-retire-new-ceo-first-female-president

Nintendo's ranking Bowser is stepping away from the company at the end of 2025, with no hammers or bombs required.

A press statement from Nintendo of America has confirmed that Doug Bowser will be retiring from the twin positions of President and Chief Operating Officer on December 31. His replacement will be Devon Pritchard, NoA's current Vice President of Revenue, Marketing, and Consumer Experience; Pritchard is the first female president of a Nintendo branch in the company's 136 year history. Alongside the move, the position of Chief Executive Officer will be filled by former Nintendo of Europe head Satoru Shibata.

Bowser joined Nintendo in 2015 in a marketing role after several years at Electronic Arts, and assumed the presidency following the retirement of Reggie Fils-Amie in 2019. Bowser remained in more of a behind-the-scenes capacity at NoA, only appearing in one Nintendo Direct presentation (E3 2019) despite his rather appropriate name. During his tenure, Bowser headed up Nintendo of America's response to tariff threats and the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also came under scrunity for labor practices (including multiple credible accusations of furloughing contract workers before they would qualify for full employment) and a recent IGN report indicating that the company's famous customer service would be outsourced outside of North America.

[Mythtendo]

was Shibata the one responsible for Nintendo of Europe doing bizarre names? Giving us names like "A Little Bit of… Magic Made Fun: Funny Face", "More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain?", " Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise " Dr Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training: Can you stay focused?" (although that is still better than the Japanese name of "Tohoku University Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer Professor and Supervisor Ryuta Kawashima's Tough 5-Minute Brain Training with Demon Training"). Please don't let him be in charge of naming games

[broodwars]

Considering all the bad press Nintendo has (deservedly) earned this year, I hope that this new President is much better at reigning in Corporate's worst impulses. Probably not, but one can hope.

[Lemonade]

Surprising news, but now seems like the best time, after launching a new system

[Khushrenada]

Considering all the bad press Nintendo has (deservedly) earned this year

What bad press and what was deserved about it?

[Khushrenada]

Bowser joined Nintendo in 2015 in a marketing role after several years at Electronic Arts

And thus another domino falls causing the unprecedented partnership to become more precedented by the day.

[Adrock]

What bad press and what was deserved about it?

My guess is Mario Kart World’s MSRP or merely Nintendo Switch 2 pricing in general.

Also, most people aren’t happy with Litigious Nintendo® though to be fair, the reporting on those stories is often thoroughly irresponsible and largely misleading. It’s easier to get mad about a sensationalized headline than it is to do even a minimal amount of reading.

[broodwars]

What bad press and what was deserved about it?

My guess is Mario Kart World’s MSRP or merely Nintendo Switch 2 pricing in general.

Also, most people aren’t happy with Litigious Nintendo® though to be fair, the reporting on those stories is often thoroughly irresponsible and largely misleading. It’s easier to get mad about a sensationalized headline than it is to do even a minimal amount of reading.

The pricing, the Key Cards, the lack of 1st party announcements, the patent nonsense, locking VB games you can't even own behind expensive peripherals, bricking people's Switch 2's because they inadvertently bought Used Games that had been copied, etc.

And apparently a lot of Mario Kart fans are pissed that Nintendo patched World to remove their ability to guarantee 3 lap races in online matches. World in general got a rapid negative re-evaluation shortly after launch.

Some (especially YouTube channels and social media accounts) would say Nintendo has been rather "mask off" since the Switch 2 unveil, that the business side of Nintendo finally supplanted the creative one. In light of that, I can't say I'm going to miss the former EA executive leaving NoA.

[pokepal148]

Broodwars has clearly just spent too much time watching rage bait YouTubers make mountains out of molehills..

[broodwars]

Broodwars has clearly just spent too much time watching rage bait YouTubers make mountains out of molehills..

Well, I wouldn't call YouTubers like ScottTheWoz or Arlo "Rage Bait"-ers, but yeah actually. It's been a slow news week and my office job gets very dull without something playing in my ear. It is helpful to know what people are complaining about, though. I don't GAF about Mario Kart, so I wouldn't have known about the outrage about Nintendo forcing players to play intermissions instead of actual races without it.

I originally intended to post this in the Switch 2 thread, but since we're here, why not:

I bought my Switch to play Switch 1 games with the performance they should have had at launch and to play the rare Switch 2 1st party exclusive, so from my perspective buying a Switch has been worth it so far. DK Bananza was extremely overhyped, but it was an enjoyable game, and I've made more progress in Xenoblade 2 in the last month than I did the last 8 years. The handheld experience is much better this time, and because I buy my games physically I have plenty of storage for all my old Switch 1 games. Apparently, Deadly Premonition 2 is actually in a playable state for the first time ever on Switch 2.

It is a console worth owning for my very particular use case, having a large backlog of games I either gave up on or never got around to, mainly due to very few games on the Switch even hitting 30 FPS, let alone 60. Fire Emblem 3 Houses was just infuriating at its sub-20 FPS. I don't intend to ever purchase anything other than the odd 1st party Switch 2 exclusive, so many of the Nintendo's decisions with the Switch 2 simply don't affect me. That said, there's a lot of small stuff about the Switch 2 that just bugs me, like my Switch 1 Pro Controller being unable to turn the Switch 2 on by itself and the home menu STILL not having themes of any sort (an issue I have with every console these days)

That said, I can't imagine ever using my Switch 2 as my dominant platform. The 1st party games are just too scarce and many just don't appeal to me, the pricing of absolutely everything is way out of hand, and as a physical game purchaser 3rd party games are a COMPLETE wash since they're almost all Key Cards. And Nintendo is burning a lot of goodwill with some of their decisions lately. For example, that DK Bananza DLC is blatantly cut content, and in no way earns that $20 price tag.

And nothing good has ever come of game mechanics being patented. I don't care how specific the use case is. We shouldn't have patents on game mechanics, as it just stifles innovation. Nintendo wasn't the first to invent a lot of what Pokemon does. They just did it better than anyone else at the time with extremely marketable execution, ending in 30 years of Game Freak just doing the bare minimum.

The Switch 2 has sold well out of the gate because there was ample stock, but we'll see how that momentum keeps up. I'm satisfied with my purchase for its very limited use case, but I absolutely understand why so many seem to be unhappy with it.