| firebush03 said: Doug Bowser is stepping down from NoA as of December 31st, 2025. Very short tenure compared to Reggie. I wonder why? I’m hoping its for the best, he was nowhere near as publicly present nor consumer friendly as Reggie, who infamously fought with Miyamoto for Wii Sports to be packed with every Wii system. |
Reggie has been idolized because he happened to hold the job when Nintendo rose back to market leadership with the Wii, but he actually wasn't remotely close to being great. Bowser's lower public presence was a positive, because we didn't need to hear from NoA when virtually all important decisions have always been made in Japan. Today's Directs with Japanese personnel doing the talking while being subbed is more appropriate than Reggie or Bill Trinen leading the presentations in the past. Reggie said a lot of stupid things in interviews during the 3DS and Wii U era.
As for consumer-friendliness or the lack thereof, Reggie was the cause for Operation Rainfall because he refused to publish three first party games in North America. Three games that were going to have English translations anyway, because they were going to be released in Europe. As for Wii Sports being a pack-in or not, it's doubtful that it would have mattered much, because it isn't hard to buy a console and a game separately. There's a narrative that the Wii might have not succeeded if it hadn't been for a bundle, but that doesn't hold up under scrutiny.
In any case, I'd rather have a Bowser successor who remains mostly invisible like Bowser than a loudmouth like Reggie. Because chances are that attention-seeking executives say stupid things, be it Reggie, Spencer or Ryan.
Legend11 correctly predicted that GTA IV will outsell Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I was wrong.
