Reggie Fils-Aimé is the former president and COO of Nintendo of America and the industry stalwart has long been a charismatic presence in the world of video games. Fils-Aimé can often be relied on to liven things up, and he's not disappointed as a guest at a major event. Speaking during SXSW to Bloomberg's Emily Chang, Fils-Aimé had some cutting things to say about the metaverse and specifically Facebook's interpretation of the concept (via IGN).
The former Nintendo of America president expressed doubt over Facebook's "current definition" of the metaverse and questioned the company's vision. Fils-Aimé did not hold back, saying that Facebook "is not itself an innovative company". Related to why he thinks the Zuckerberg co-founded social media giant is not the right company to lead the metaverse is the fact that he thinks Facebook doesn't really create, in his opinion. "They have either acquired interesting things like Oculus and Instagram, or they've been a fast follower of people's ideas. I don't think their current definition will be successful", he said.
Rather, Fils-Aimé believes that it will be smaller companies who will lead the way as they're the ones that are "really innovating", and it's companies such as Epic Games that are doing things in a "really compelling" way.
This year, the games industry has seen major business deals take place as huge acquisitions by companies such as Take-Two, Microsoft, and Sony have moved the industry towards increasing consolidation. The former COO and president of Nintendo was drawn into speaking about these moves as well, with Fils-Aimé thinking that more such deals will be occurring following Microsoft's "fantastic purchase" of Activision Blizzard.
The former executive also said the video games industry still has some way to go to become more diverse. "This is a global industry touching three billion people across the world – it's a $200 billion business. The representation in the game and in leadership is not at all where it needs to be", he said.
Reggie Fils-Aimé will be releasing a book elaborating on his storied career called 'Disrupting the Game: From the Bronx to the Top of Nintendo' in May, which could make for revealing reading as the former executive can shed light on the inner workings of Nintendo, the console business, and gaming culture at large, from a unique perspective.