A wave of concern has spread in the gaming world since the major leadership announcement coming from Nintendo of America. The long-time President Doug Bowser is about to retire, paving the way for Executive Vice President of revenue Devon Pritchard to step up into the role.
While corporate reshuffling is quite a standard business, vocal reactions from dedicated fans online are now telling quite a different story. All across social media platforms, there is a pessimism wave, with many gamers openly questioning what this change will mean for their beloved consoles and games’ future, signalling a rocky start to this new chapter.
Why are gamers not happy with Devon Pritchard replacing Doug Bowser?
The gamers have been quite quick to share their reaction on X, and they seem to be quite critical about this leadership change. A sense of finality got captured by one of the users who posted a mocking image of Nintendo’s gravestone with Pritchard smiling right beside it. The post was captioned, “It’s dead. RIP Nintendo.”
Such sentiment of doom was further echoed by another user who bluntly stated, “Nintendo… Is absolutely fucked now, isn’t it?”
Much of this criticism appears to be stemming from legal background of Pritchard. A gamer echoing on to this, expressed his fear, saying, “Just lawyers and Bankers. Out to overprice and sue the coins outta every Nintendo fan ever and anyone who tries to innovate games that challenges their franchises.”
The view got further compounded by another who went ahead to directly address her experience, by asking, “She’s ninendo’s patent lawyer. What does that have to do with video games? Just because shes been there a long time doesnt mean shes ever done anything good for the customer.”
Amidst all negativity, a reasoning voice tried to question this entire backlash by noting that, “She has worked there for almost 20 years. Why is this automatically a bad thing?”
But the retort was quite quick to dismiss the relevance of her tenure to her new role. The entire conversation even took a turn sideways with one user even making a comparative comment saying, “Hey look The white @sarah_bond… Just as useless.”
The entire exchange happening on X after the announcement seems to highlight one core conflict. Gamers are questioning if a business and legal-focused executive could uphold the creative spirit that the brand is associated with.
Corporate takeover: A new chapter for Nintendo of America
Despite all the online unrest, the official announcement made by Nintendo paints a picture of a careful transition. Doug Bowser, who oversaw the immense success of the Switch console, will reportedly be retiring at the end of 2025. It’s almost after a decade with the company. He even publicly endorsed Pritchard. He called her one of the “exceptional leader,” whose promotion is a testament to her strong performance.
Devon Pritchard is not an outsider. She has been with Nintendo of America for over 19 years (2006-ongoing). In her statement, Pritchard has already tried to offer a reassuring tone. She has emphasized her entire focus upon building upon “Nintendo’s legacy of surprising and delighting our longtime fans.” She even said, she will continue to welcome “new players into the Nintendo family.” Such a corporate narrative of experience and continuity stands in stark contrast to fans’ expressed fears within the gaming community.
Alongside the change of Pritchard, who will soon be in the role of President and COO, Satoru Shibata will also join Nintendo of America’s CEO. He will continue to maintain his position at Nintendo Co., Ltd in Japan, too.
