Reggie Fils-Aimé is known to many as the former President of Nintendo of America, though he left that position in April of 2019, moving on from the company. Since then, Fils-Aimé has gone on to comment on much of the changes and developments in the gaming industry, speaking on everything from Xbox to representation in the gaming industry. He is seen by many as a popular figure within the gaming industry, claiming to be a gaming fan as both a consumer and businessman.
After Reggie left Nintendo, many were wondering what his next move would be. Reggie found a new job in April 2020 on the GameStop board of directors. This position was seen as a strange move by many due to GameStop's falling profits of the time. Considering the recent successes of the Nintendo Switch, Reggie's move from a prospering business to one many expected to fail was odd. However, due to GameStop's stock surging in late 2020 and early 2021, the business was given a second chance.
Even with GameStop's sudden success, Reggie decided to leave the company in the second half of 2021, recently speaking on his decision in an interview. The main reason for Reggie's exit allegedly stemmed from a lack of strategy articulation. According to Reggie, current company leaders including Ryan Cohen, had decided to put together a new strategy in 2021 regarding the direction of GameStop. However, Reggie was left out of these discussions, as Cohen had decided to keep the decision-making party small.
"The company certainly needed to pivot in a number of ways," Reggie said. "It needed to embrace ecommerce... to find a way to better satisfy its consumer base." After a few "bruising fights" with shareholders, Reggie believed the company needed to articulate its strategy for the future in order to better satisfy its constituents. However, Cohen's tactic was to lay out broad plans, such as the pursuit of an NFT marketplace, without a specific strategy in mind.
"There has not been an articulated strategy," Reggie went on to say. "Leadership says we don't want to articulate our strategy because we don't want anyone to steal our strategy." It seems then, that there was a clash of business ideals between the former Nintendo President and Ryan Cohen, with the latter keeping his strategy as a secret, though this decision may come back to bite the company, as GameStop reported huge losses in recent quarters.
Source: Bloomberg