Reggie Fils-Aime’s departure from Nintendo in 2020 was something that shocked many people in a variety of ways. Not the least of which was that he was going out while the company was once again on top via the Nintendo Switch line of systems. However, he went out on his own terms, and discussed that with a special podcast received by those who donated to a charity.
In it, Reggie Fils-Aime discussed his final day at Nintendo, where he went to work with his wife…and then various things happened…
“The day itself, we had an event with all of the employees for all of the Washington state-based employees, and we had a presentation, a series of comments, some gifts that were presented to me, and we also had video from employees in some of our remote locations that couldn’t be with us that day. It was highly emotional. At the end, I was able to make some concluding comments.
At the end of the formal presentation – the formal remarks – as I came off stage, a number of employees came up to me, wanting to spend some time. And then I looked up, and there proceeded to be a line of probably what was a few hundred employees, and I went through that line person by person. My wife Stacey says that it took about 90 minutes, almost two hours to go through that line. Just spending a few minutes with employees, many that I knew, some who had just joined the company, and were expressing their passion for the company, their disappointment that they would go on with their career at Nintendo as I was ending mine.”
Though exhausted, he did a farewell party at a nearby restaurant with friends and family where he had a “fun, uplifting ending.” As for what Reggie will do now, he’s writing a book that’ll come out next year.
