Each week, Xbox’s Larry Hryb, otherwise known as Major Nelson, hosts his popular show the Xbox Podcast, often featuring interviews with some of the gaming industry’s most famous names. This week’s episode included an interview with “Gaming Legend” Reggie Fils-Aime, where he and Hryb reminisced on old stories, specifically the time Fils-Aime signed Hryb’s Nintendo DS when he was still a fresh face in the world of Xbox.
Fil-Aime is best known for working in the North American division of Nintendo from 2003 to 2019, overseeing the launches of the Wii, Wii U, and Nintendo Switch while becoming a fan-favorite industry executive. Now retired from Nintendo, Fils-Aime has written a memoir titled Disrupting the Game: From the Bronx to the Top of Nintendo, appearing on the “Xbox Podcast” to promote his new book. Throughout the 25-minute interview, the two industry veterans shared stories about working their way through the gaming industry, noting how it’s a “pretty small group” of executives constantly bumping into each other at events or in their travels.
Early in the interview, Major Nelson brought up a special story from an early part of his career. As a new member of the Xbox team, Hryb was attending an event at the Bellevue Square in 2004, where he ran into Fils-Aime and had to get his Nintendo DS signed by the “Gaming Legend” himself. Hryb describes his signed DS as a “real treasure” and is grateful that Fils-Aime also remembered that moment when Hryb was yet to be a face of Xbox. In a picture revealed during the interview, the two can be seen at the event, with Major Nelson looking quite content with his signed DS.
Coming off Hryb's Nintendo DS story, Fils-Aime had many positive words about the close-knit nature of the gaming industry. The former Nintendo president enjoys how gaming executives constantly run into one another at events and discuss what’s best for the industry, stating that it’s “a really positive element of this great industry.” Further, he said that fan interaction and providing signatures as he did for Hryb in 2004 is “magical.” Fans can listen to the whole “Xbox Podcast” interview below starting at the 11:30 mark.
It isn’t hard to see why Reggie Fils-Aime quickly became a beloved personality within gaming communities. Later on in the interview, he discussed the topic of authenticity earning the respect of gamers, stating, “I’ve observed executives who just try too hard, they really aren’t committed to the business or the industry…the community can sniff it out.” Fils-Aime is a lifelong gamer which he believes contributed a lot to his success at Nintendo as fan excitement reflected his own excitement. Though now retired from being at the top positions in the gaming industry, Fils-Aime still contributes to the gaming community, undertaking multiple projects with the likes of Microsoft, and is regularly spotted at Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards.