Reggie Fils-Aimé Reveals Nintendo Halted Sales to Amazon Over Legal Concerns

During a recent lecture at NYU, former Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé shared insights from a conversation he had with an Amazon executive back in the late 2000s. Fils-Aimé recounted how Amazon was eager to expand its presence in the gaming sector and attempted to persuade Nintendo to sever ties with other retailers and even engage in illegal practices.

“Amazon was looking to get bigger into the video game space,” Fils-Aimé explained. “Their strategy at the time was to offer the lowest prices in the market, even undercutting Walmart. They wanted an outrageous amount of financial support to achieve that. I told the executive, ‘You know that’s illegal, right? I can’t do that.’”

The relationship between Nintendo and Amazon has been rocky for years. Just last year, as Nintendo was gearing up to launch the highly anticipated Switch 2, the console was notably absent from Amazon, with pre-orders available only through rival retailers. This situation followed a pattern of first-party games being missing from Amazon or pre-orders being abruptly canceled, leading to speculation that third-party sellers were undercutting Nintendo.

The tension dates back to the Nintendo DS era when the Wii and DS were Nintendo’s top-selling consoles. While Amazon initially focused on books, it quickly expanded in the 2000s, offering steep discounts and becoming a go-to destination for nearly everything—except Nintendo products.

Amazon’s involvement in the gaming industry has been awkward at best. Despite significant investments, their attempts at game development have not yielded successful titles, resulting in thousands of layoffs. Earlier this year, leadership in their gaming division left, and their cloud gaming service, Luna, was discontinued just last month without any refunds.

“Ultimately, we stopped selling to Amazon,” Fils-Aimé stated. “I wasn’t going to engage in illegal activities or jeopardize our relationships with other retailers. This also established a clear boundary: you’re not going to push me around. This is how we conduct business, and that’s how you build respect over time.”