Reggie Fils-Aimé has opened up about the time an Amazon executive gave him a phone call and asked Nintendo to do something "illegal" during the era of the Nintendo DS.
The former Nintendo of America president recalled what sounds to have been a tense conversation at a recent lecture at New York University (via Nintendo Everything). It was a talk that saw him cover the ups and downs from his time in charge of the Wii and Switch maker, but it's the company's tumultuous relationship with Amazon that may have caught the audience's attention more than anything else.
Fils-Aimé remembers the phone call as happening toward the "tail end of the Wii and DS generation," or sometime around the late 2000s or early 2010s. His involvement in its sales saw him "driving a lot of revenue" at the same time that Amazon was looking to get more into video games and "have the lowest price out in the marketplace."
"It was a conversation that got to me after it had progressed through all of the levels of my sales organization," Fils-Aimé said. "Essentially, what Amazon wanted, is they wanted an obscene amount of support – financial support – so they can have the lowest price and beat Walmart. I literally said to the executive, 'You know, that's illegal. I can't do that.' You know, you get silence on the other end, and it's like, 'but this is what I want.' Literally, we stopped selling to Amazon, and it's because I wasn't going to do something illegal."
Nintendo's strange relationship with Amazon extends beyond the former bigwig's meeting. Just last year, rumors swirled that the two companies were at odds over the topic of third-party resellers, resulting in pulled products ahead of the launch of Nintendo Switch 2.
The Mario maker denied the claims at the time, with Amazon also adding that it was "pleased to offer Nintendo products directly" to its customers. After around a year without first-party titles being made available for frequent shoppers at the online retailer, Nintendo games returned to Amazon in June 2025.
The behind-the-scenes details regarding why the two found themselves making headlines last summer remain a mystery. Although Fils-Aimé wasn't ready to offer the full picture, we do at least know why their relationship was more strained during his time as president.
"I wasn't going to do something that would put at risk the relationships we have with our other retailers," he added, "but it also set the stage to say, 'Look, you're not going to push me around. This is the way we do business.' And so, that's how, overtime, you build respect."
Fils-Aimé clarified that Amazon was "right there at the table" when it came time to launch the original Switch in 2017. He said that success, however, was only possible because it was "based on a mutually beneficial approach."
For more from the world of Nintendo, you can catch up on the company's history in home gaming console releases. You can also read about why one former developer feels the company doesn't really need to make any new franchises.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
