Overview
- Former Nintendo of America chief Reggie Fils-Aimé told an NYU audience that Amazon asked for an "obscene" financial subsidy so it could price below Walmart.
- He said he told the Amazon executive the request was illegal and then stopped selling Wii and DS systems through the site.
- Fils-Aimé said agreeing would have hurt Nintendo’s ties with other retailers who expected fair treatment on price.
- The relationship later fractured again, including a pause reported in 2024, before the companies reconciled for the Switch 2 launch.
- During the DS era, Nintendo was selling about ten million handhelds a year in the Americas, which Fils-Aimé said gave the company leverage to reject the demand.