Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime shares new light on his sudden exit from the GameStop board, saying in an interview at SXSW (via Bloomberg) that he has been left out of conversations about how to tip the ship.
Before explaining why he was leaving, Fils Aimah discussed why he joined in the first place. After leaving Nintendo, Fils-Aime joined GameStop’s board of directors in April 2020, at the start of the pandemic and with some thought, GameStop would go bankrupt before PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X launch | S. So why would Fils-Aime join a company with a less than rosy outlook on the future?
He explained that at the time, he believed that GameStop had the potential to succeed if Her management took the right steps and had a plan of action.
“I believed the company could be successful. I believed that by taking the right action, the company would definitely be there in time to launch the new systems. And a company that serves the core gaming audience the way they do would be capable of a successful future.”
Fils-Aime said GameStop needs to pivot in a number of ways, including ramping up its e-commerce portfolio and services and generally finding ways to better satisfy its customer base. PS5 and Series X released | S in November 2020 and GameStop remained solvent as Fils-Aime said the retailer was able to maximize its fortunes from those systems and more profit-making games sold to them.
At this time, billionaire businessman Ryan Cohen, founder of the online pet food company Chewy, took control of GameStop. Fils-Aime said Cohen has pushed for a “more aggressive change” at GameStop. What’s more, Fils-Aime said the GameStop board of directors has already gone through a number of “painful” fights with shareholders, and management did not want to do that again.
As for why Fils-Aime eventually left the GameStop board of directors, he said it was up to Cohen and other management not willing to listen to his advice, despite Fils-Aime being an industry expert and one of the game’s most experienced entrepreneurs. on the planet.
“The problem was that as the strategy development started, I asked to be part of the team to develop the strategy. I knew the business. I knew him as a consumer, and I knew him as a seller; I had very strong opinions about how the business should be centered. But I was rejected.” “The perspective was, Reggie, we want to keep the team small… so I’ll be me [Cohen] And a few people I brought on the plane. “
Fils-Aime emphatically said that Cohen and the team around him “don’t know this business; they don’t understand the players.”
When Fils-Aime was denied a spot on the GameStop track forward strategy team, he took this as a sign that it was time to go.
“I took this as a token of, ‘Thank you, but we really don’t want any other ideas. “For me, this is unacceptable.”
To this day, the current GameStop management has not defined its strategy for future success, and Fils-Aime did not want to continue to see how it all turned out.
“There was no clear strategy,” said Phils Amy. “Leadership is saying, ‘Well, we don’t want to formulate our strategy because we don’t want someone to steal our strategy.'”
Fils-Aime said that crafting a business strategy is critical, saying management needs to keep business partners, suppliers, employees and shareholders informed, but has never done so and appears to have not yet.
Fils-Aimed ended his comments by saying that this is a marked change from the other boards he sits on, including Brunswick Corp (which makes ultra-luxury boats) and toy company Spin Master.
GameSpot has followed up with GameStop in an effort to get more details about Fils-Aime’s exit from the board of directors.
In addition, Fils-Aime used his talk to They criticize Facebook’s plans for the metaverse. the recorder He also added an author to this resume, such as his new book detailing his rise from the Bronx to the top of Nintendo, Disable the gameIt will be in May.