Even former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime was shocked by the considerably sparse launch lineup of the Nintendo Change 2.
“I would not be fully sincere if [I didn’t say] from a enterprise perspective, after I first noticed that lineup, I scratched my head a little bit bit,” stated Fils-Aime–who served as Nintendo of America’s president and chief working officer from 2006 till he retired in 2019–during an interview with The Sport Enterprise. “However I feel definitely what I underestimated was the improved efficiency, the improved Nintendo Change 1 content material, I feel has been compelling. The stuff that you simply get without cost as a part of the Nintendo Change On-line subscription, I feel that has helped drive among the momentum. After which definitely Bananza was a key driver for them.”
When the unique Change launched in 2017, it was accompanied by The Legend of Zelda: Breathe of the Wild and joined later within the 12 months by Tremendous Mario Odyssey. Change 2’s huge launch title was Mario Kart World in June 2025, adopted by Donkey Kong Bananza a month later. However whereas many did not take into account these video games to be system sellers, they have been each hits with gamers and critics alike.
Fils-Aime attributed the success of the Change 2 launch to Nintendo’s world crew and famous that “with the ability to efficiently launch a brand new system after you have had historic success with the prior system is sort of a problem.” He pointed to a number of examples of that, together with Nintendo following the Wii with the much less profitable Wii U.
Earlier this 12 months, Fils-Aime appeared to disagree with Nintendo’s determination to cost $10 for the Change 2 Welcome Pack. As a distinction, he in contrast it to his determination to launch Wii Sports activities as an included title for Wii consoles in North America. In 2022, Fils-Aime predicted that the massive variety of studio acquisitions by Sony and Microsoft would lead to senior designers breaking away and launching their very own modern video games. There have been some high-profile administrators and designers that left bigger corporations, however Fils-Aime famous an absence of innovation throughout his new interview.
“I do hope that this business would not stagnate,” stated Fils-Aime. “There are, at occasions, indicators that the innovation is not there. The breakthrough new sort of content material appears to be a little bit bit additional and much between. That issues me, and I hope that does not cease.”
