He is one of the most well-known personalities in the video game industry: Reggie Fils-Aimé. In his latest book, the 61-year-old gives exciting insights into his time as the US boss of Nintendo. For Fils-Aimé, a well-known handheld was doomed.

Nintendo

With the Switch, Nintendo is riding a wave of success that many never thought possible. The hybrid console has now been sold more than 100 million times. The Game Boy Micro could never match these sales figures: only Nintendo sold 2.4 million units of the portable mini console between 2005 and 2008. For former Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aimé, the Game Boy Micro’s mediocre success in flashback comes as no great surprise.

Reggie Fils-Aimé thought the Game Boy Micro was too small

“From my perspective, the Game Boy Micro was a non-starter from the start,” says Reggie Fils-Aimé in his recently published book (source: Video Games Chronicle). As a reason, the ex-Nintendo boss cites what should actually be the main selling point of the Game Boy Micro: its size.

So be it Game Boy Micro was simply too small. The buttons and screen, which the Nintendo legend even describes as “tiny,” were too small for a decent gaming experience, according to Reggie Fils-Aimé. At that time, however, an island mentality prevailed within Nintendo and so Fils-Aimé only became head of America found out too late about the development of the Game Boy Micro. The development of the hardware was then so advanced that there was no other choice and the system had to be brought to market.

Nintendo recently launched an OLED variant of the switch:

Chip crisis threatens further success of the Nintendo Switch

Nintendo has left such problems behind with the Switch. What’s more, despite sales that have meanwhile broken the 100 million mark, the console continues to enjoy great popularity. Only the worldwide chip crisis lies like a dark shadow over the continued success of the Nintendo Switch.