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Nintendo vet Fils-Aimé joins GameStop's board

Nintendo vet Fils-Aimé joins GameStop's board

The former head of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aimé (pictured) has been appointed to the board of directors at troubled retailer GameStop.

The company revealed that the Nintendo alum would be joining as of April 20th. Fils-Aimé departed Nintendo in 2019 having joined back in 2006.

He has been appointed alongside former Walmart US boss William Simon and the current president and CEO of PetSmart James Symancyk, who are joining effective immediately.

“On behalf of the entire Board and management team, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Dan, Gerald, Larry and Steve for their significant contributions to GameStop," the company's chair Kathy Vrabeck said.

"During their tenure, the Company has made important progress executing on our objective of becoming a leading omnichannel retailer with top market share in the gaming category, and we appreciate their thoughtful leadership, guidance and service. Looking ahead, we are excited about the progress our new leadership team has made to date. We are confident they will continue to accelerate the Company’s turnaround and transformation to drive shareholder value as they pursue opportunities to create meaningful entertainment experiences for our customers and enhance partnerships with gaming publishers and console and PC developers.”

GameStop’s CEO George Sherman added: “The Board refreshment and governance enhancements announced today represent an important milestone in GameStop’s transformation as we continue to evolve the Company’s business strategy for long-term success. We are pleased to welcome Reggie, Bill and J.K. to the Board. They are each highly qualified and bring significant, relevant experience to our turnaround. We look forward to immediately benefitting from their expertise and perspectives as we navigate the evolving gaming and retail environments, execute on our strategic initiatives and prepare the Company to maximise value-creation associated with the next generation of console launches later this year.”

These appointments come in an interesting time for GameStop. The firm is desperately trying to make its business work in the current landscape. The retailer announced it was going to be closing its Nordic stores at the end of 2019, hoping to save $15m in the process.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.