Why Nintendo stopped selling Wii and DS to Amazon
▼ Summary
– Reggie Fils-Aime revealed Nintendo stopped selling Wii and DS systems to Amazon due to an “illegal” demand from the retailer.
– Amazon wanted “an obscene amount of financial support” to offer the lowest prices and beat Walmart.
– Reggie refused, citing illegality and risk to Nintendo’s relationships with other retailers.
– The dispute created an impasse, leading Nintendo to halt sales to Amazon during the Wii and DS era.
– Nintendo and Amazon have since had a tumultuous relationship, with another pause in 2024 before reconciling for the Switch 2 launch.
Reggie Fils-Aime, the former president of Nintendo of America, recently pulled back the curtain on a pivotal moment in the company’s history: why it stopped selling Wii and DS systems to Amazon during their peak years. The revelation came during a talk at the NYU Game Center Lecture Series, shedding light on the often rocky relationship between the two corporate giants.
The friction, which has flared up multiple times over the years, traces back to a specific demand from Amazon during the height of the Wii and DS era. According to Fils-Aime, Amazon’s request was not just aggressive but “illegal.” The online retailer wanted “an obscene amount of support” from Nintendo, specifically financial backing, so it could offer the lowest price on the market and undercut Walmart. Nintendo’s leadership, however, recognized that granting such a demand would violate fair trade laws and damage its standing with other retail partners.
Fils-Aime recalled the direct conversation with an Amazon executive. “I literally said to the executive, ‘You know that’s illegal, right? I can’t do that.’” He described the ensuing silence on the other end of the line, followed by the executive’s insistence: “But this is what I want.” The impasse was absolute. Nintendo chose to stop selling its hardware to Amazon entirely rather than cave to an unlawful request. “I wasn’t going to do something illegal,” Fils-Aime emphasized. “I wasn’t going to do something that would put at risk the relationship we have with other retailers.”
At the time, Nintendo was in an incredibly powerful position, selling ten million DS units annually in the Americas alone. This scale gave the company leverage to enforce its principles. Fils-Aime framed the decision as a foundational moment for building mutual respect. “It 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 over time you build respect.”
The tension between Nintendo and Amazon has been an on-and-off affair. As recently as 2024, the two companies reportedly paused their partnership again, though details later emerged explaining that rift. They have since reconciled for the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, but the legacy of that early confrontation remains a defining chapter in their business relationship.
(Source: Nintendoeverything.com)
