Summary
FormerNintendo of AmericaPresident Reggie Fils-Aimé believes that the video game industry is on the verge of bouncing back from its post-pandemic slump. The long-timeNintendoexecutive highlighted some promising signs of recovery that point to that being the case, and shared a fairly optimistic near-term outlook for the sector.
Fils-Aimé served as the chief operating officer and president of the Japanese gaming giant’s U.S. division for 13 years. He retired in April 2019, withDoug Bowser subsequently taking over the reins of Nintendo of America. Fils-Aimé has been keeping busy ever since, having authored a book and started a podcast, on top of making quite a few public appearances and frequently chatting with the press.
Reggie Fils-Aimé Predicts a Games Industry ‘Upswing’
Yahoo Financerecently got a hold of Fils-Aimé to pick his brain about the current state of the video game industry. The ensuing interview saw the former Nintendo official offer an optimistic perspective about the sector’s immediate future. “I would say that the games industry overall is poised for an upswing,” Fils-Aimé opined.
Elaborating on that prediction, the ex-Nintendo executive pointed to an evidently high level of consumer excitement over some June 2024 game announcements as evidence that upcoming releases are showing a lot of promise. While he didn’t name any particular titles, he was possibly referring toNintendo’s announcement ofThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomand the long-awaited gameplay reveal ofMetroid Prime 4, both of which generated quite a bit of positive buzz.
Fils-Aimé Says ‘Free Money’ Is Partly to Blame for 2023 Games Industry Slump
The former Nintendo president also suggested that “free money” was partly to blame for some of the industry’s post-pandemic troubles, such asdeclining growth. That remark was a reference to the low interest rates that drove a lot of game investments in the run-up to the launches of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S and during the pandemic. “Game developers were creating a plethora of content and, candidly, some content that probably shouldn’t have been created,” Fils-Aimé opined, citing that as the reason why the global market contracted in 2023.
I would say that the games industry overall is poised for an upswing.
Nevertheless, he expects 2025 to be a return to form for the gaming sphere, not just because of the upcoming releases of some highly anticipated titles such asGrand Theft Auto 6, but also on account of new hardware that’s now on the horizon. Aside from theNintendo Switch successor, which is expected to hit the market circa March 2025, Fils-Aimé also pointed to the rumored PS5 Pro as another device that could potentially help the industry return to growth in the near future.
Nintendo
Nintendo is a Japanese video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. While producing highly popular hardware consoles like the Switch, the company is known for its many first party video game franchises like Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Fire Emblem, Pokemon, and many more.
