Nintendo Halted Wii, DS Sales on Amazon Over Pricing Demand

Former Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé recounted how the company stopped selling Wii and DS consoles on Amazon during the late Wii and DS era after an executive from the online retailer requested an "obscene amount of financial support" to offer prices lower than Walmart.

Speaking at a recent New York University Game Center event, Fils-Aimé described the incident as part of building business relationships in the gaming industry. At the time, the Wii and DS were selling about 10 million units annually in North America alone, generating significant revenue for Nintendo. Amazon, expanding aggressively into video games, sought backing to maintain the lowest market prices.

"One of their executives called me, after it had progressed through all the levels of my sales organization," Fils-Aimé said. "Essentially what Amazon wanted is an obscene amount of support, financial support so they could have the lowest price and beat Walmart. I literally said to the executive, 'You know that's illegal. I can't do that.' You know you get silence on the other end, and it's like, 'Well, but this is what I want.'"

Nintendo withdrew both consoles from Amazon's platform in response....