Reggie Fils-Aimé, former president Nintendo of America, recently said during a lecture that the company pulled its Wii and DS systems from Amazon after the retail giant tried to gain a financial advantage over Walmart. Although Nintendo and Amazon eventually made amends, Fils-Aimé stated that Amazon's demands were “illegal” and “obscene” at the time.
During the mid to late 2000s, Nintendo remained a dominant force in the gaming industry. Despite the shortcomings of the Nintendo GameCube, the launch of the DS in 2004 and the subsequent arrival of the Wii in 2006 ushered in a new era for the company. Just as the DS made touchscreen controls the norm for Nintendo, the Wii's motion control scheme was seen as a major selling point. In short, motion control support made titles like Wii Sports and Galaxy Super Mario becoming one of the best-selling hits on the Wii.
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Amazon's desire to beat Walmart didn't sit well with Reggie Fils-Aimé
Despite the massive success of the Wii and Nintendo DS, one of the world's biggest retailers has been cut off from selling Nintendo systems due to an interview with the games company's former executive. In a talk hosted by the NYU Gaming Center that was streamed on Twitch, Fils-Aimé reflected on his time as president of Nintendo of America, a post he held from 2006 to 2019. Fils-Aimé said that during his tenure, an executive from Amazon approached him and asked for “an obscene amount of support to undercut their competitors, Amazon and N.” Walmart. Fils-Aimé said that at the time of the conversation, Amazon was looking to improve its presence in the gaming space. “Amazon's mentality back then was that they wanted to have the lowest price in the market, even lower than Walmart,” Fils-Aimé said.
However, Amazon's ambition to beat Walmart in the gaming market did not sit well with Fils-Aimé at all. The former president of Nintendo of America put his foot down and said he would not give in to Amazon's then-“illegal” demands, leading Nintendo to pull the Wii and DS from Amazon for a time. “That's because I wasn't going to do anything illegal. I wasn't going to do anything that would jeopardize the relationship we have with our other retailers. But it also set the stage for me to say, 'Look, you're not going to push me. This is the way we do business.' That's how you build respect over time,” explained Fils-Aimé.
Wii and DS still sell well without Amazon
In the end, Nintendo and Amazon returned to the negotiating table. Fils-Aimé said that when the Switch was getting ready to launch, Amazon was right there with Nintendo to support it. As of this writing, Nintendo products are readily available on Amazon. Despite leaving Amazon out of the conversation for a while, sales of Nintendo's consoles have remained strong. Although the Wii and DS were eventually outsold by the Nintendo Switch, the Wii sold over 101 million units. In comparison, the DS line sold a combined 154 million units in various iterations such as the DS Lite and DSi.
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Although the Switch has since sold over 155 million units and counting, the legacy of the Wii and DS still lives on in the hearts of Nintendo fans. Since Fils-Aime left Nintendo, the gaming giant has released the Switch 2, which is approaching its first anniversary in June. With the Switch 2 having several games expected to launch in 2026 and beyond, time will tell how successful Nintendo's current console will be.
