By Rich Stanton
Copyright pcgamer
Skip to main content
Close main menu
THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES
View Profile
Search PC Gamer
PC Gaming Show
Movies & TV
Affiliate links
Meet the team
Community guidelines
About PC Gamer
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
Why subscribe?
Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming mag
Try a single issue or save on a subscription
Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From£35.99Subscribe now
PC Gaming Show Tokyo
Essential Hardware
Battlefield 6
Don’t miss these
All change at the top: Corsair’s founder and long-running CEO steps down after 31 years as former company president Thi La takes over the reins
Bungie CEO Pete Parsons retires: With Destiny 2 sentiment at an all-time low and pressure from Sony growing, Parsons has decided it’s time to ‘pass the torch’ and head for an exit
Gaming Industry
Nintendo scores a masterful own-goal by forcing its games out of a 9-year old charity speedrunning event, tells organisers those 9 years ‘constituted unauthorized use’ for good measure
Gaming Industry
‘I hope all your cars break down’: Destiny players bid good riddance to departing Bungie CEO Pete Parsons in a rare moment of unity
Gaming Industry
Diablo boss Rod Fergusson is leaving Blizzard for a ‘new adventure’
Gaming Industry
PC’s sky-high growth has carried Japan’s games market on its back for 7 years, but the forecast is it’s set to slow down
Gaming Industry
‘An embarrassing failure of the US patent system’: Videogame IP lawyer says Nintendo’s latest patents on Pokémon mechanics ‘should not have happened, full stop’
Movies & TV
Nintendo’s found its Zelda and Link for the upcoming movie—and British soap opera Emmerdale finally gets the silver screen recognition it deserves
Gaming Industry
After leaving Ubisoft to launch an anime avatar AI/NFT startup, Yves Guillemot’s son returns to take charge of its new Tencent-backed Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow 6 subsidiary
Gaming Industry
Phil Spencer retirement rumor is made up, says Microsoft
Nintendo banned a Switch 2 user for playing second-hand games and only reinstated after providing proof of purchase
Bob Odenkirk on Mario: ‘I’ll kill him’
Gaming Industry
Former Pokémon Company head lawyer says yeah, those latest Nintendo patents are a bit much, aren’t they: ‘I wish Nintendo and Pokémon good luck when the first other developer just entirely ignores this patent’
The GameStop stapler that smashed a Switch 2 screen on launch day is being auctioned off for charity, and bidding has already broken $100,000
Survival & Crafting
Nintendo reportedly gets even more obnoxious about patent law by taking a ‘mods aren’t real games’ stance against a Dark Souls 3 mod that could invalidate its Palworld lawsuit
Gaming Industry
End of an era as Bowser (no not that one) retires from Nintendo
Rich Stanton
26 September 2025
Where’s Wario when you need him?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Michael Kovac/Getty Images)
Doug Bowser, the president and CEO of Nintendo of America, has announced he will retire at the end of 2025. Bowser succeeded Reggie Fils-Aime and has been in position for six years, but spent well over a decade in various other leadership roles at the company. He’s also leaving the company on something of a high: the Switch 2 launched on June 5 this year, and is the fastest-selling hardware in Nintendo’s history.
To be honest, and not to take anything away from Bowser, a potted plant could’ve probably done a decent job as NOA CEO over this period. The all-conquering Switch has continued to dominate the console market and print money, while Nintendo’s also expanded into theme parks and most successfully the film industry: 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie grossed $1.36 billion at the box office, the first videogame film ever to top a billion.
“Bowser’s distinguished tenure includes delivering on the promise of the Nintendo Switch system to change the way people play video games and bring new experiences to a broad range of consumers,” reads a Nintendo statement. “Earlier this year, he expanded on that mission when he oversaw the launch of Nintendo Switch 2 in the Americas and helped establish the system as the best-selling video game console of all time in its initial sales period.”
Related Articles
All change at the top: Corsair’s founder and long-running CEO steps down after 31 years as former company president Thi La takes over the reins
Bungie CEO Pete Parsons retires: With Destiny 2 sentiment at an all-time low and pressure from Sony growing, Parsons has decided it’s time to ‘pass the torch’ and head for an exit
Nintendo scores a masterful own-goal by forcing its games out of a 9-year old charity speedrunning event, tells organisers those 9 years ‘constituted unauthorized use’ for good measure
“One of my earliest video game experiences was playing the arcade version of Donkey Kong,” said Bowser
, adding BWAHAHAHA. “Since that time, all things Nintendo have continued to be a passion for both me and my family. Leading Nintendo of America has been the honor of a lifetime, and I am proud of what our team has accomplished in both business results and the experiences we’ve created for consumers.”
For one of the most magical companies in the world, Nintendo does do a great line in boring executive statements. Bowser’s replacement as president will be Devon Pritchard, a NOA veteran, while Nintendo’s Satoru Shibata joins NOA as CEO. Pritchard also joins the NOA Board of Directors and will become a Nintendo executive officer.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
“I am humbled and excited to take on this new role,” said Pritchard, establishing her dull corporate statement bona fides. “Doug has been a fantastic mentor, and I look forward to building on the incredible foundation he has helped establish. With characters and worlds that offer something for everyone, my focus will be continuing to build on Nintendo’s legacy of surprising and delighting our longtime fans, while at the same time welcoming new players into the Nintendo family.”
Nintendo reassuringly adds that Pritchard will be “putting Nintendo fans at the top of her agenda”, which just makes me think of a clipboard with “NINTENDO FANS?!?” written in sharpie.
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
“During his tenure, Doug made numerous contributions to bring smiles to the faces of people connected to Nintendo,” says Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa. “I would like to express my gratitude for his strong efforts. Devon, who will become the next president, has also made many contributions to Nintendo over the years. I am confident that, like Doug, Devon will continue to support Nintendo’s important mission of creating smiles.”
2025 games: This year’s upcoming releases
Best PC games: Our all-time favorites
Free PC games: Freebie fest
Best FPS games: Finest gunplay
Best RPGs: Grand adventures
Best co-op games: Better together
Rich Stanton
Senior Editor
Rich is a games journalist with 15 years’ experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as “[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike.”
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
All change at the top: Corsair’s founder and long-running CEO steps down after 31 years as former company president Thi La takes over the reins
Bungie CEO Pete Parsons retires: With Destiny 2 sentiment at an all-time low and pressure from Sony growing, Parsons has decided it’s time to ‘pass the torch’ and head for an exit
Nintendo scores a masterful own-goal by forcing its games out of a 9-year old charity speedrunning event, tells organisers those 9 years ‘constituted unauthorized use’ for good measure
‘I hope all your cars break down’: Destiny players bid good riddance to departing Bungie CEO Pete Parsons in a rare moment of unity
Diablo boss Rod Fergusson is leaving Blizzard for a ‘new adventure’
PC’s sky-high growth has carried Japan’s games market on its back for 7 years, but the forecast is it’s set to slow down
Latest in Gaming Industry
FTC settles with Amazon for a whopping $2.5 billion over alleged deceptive practices: ‘A record-breaking, monumental win for the millions of Americans who are tired of deceptive subscriptions that feel impossible to cancel’
9 months after cancelling Transformers: Reactivate, Splash Damage splits from Tencent and is now owned by private equity investors
How To Watch the PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct 2025
Hideo Kojima presents a Hideo Kojima credit card, fans immediately dub it ‘debt stranding’
Ready or Not studio fires community manager for saying ‘nothing of value was lost’ following Charlie Kirk’s shooting
Sucker Punch confirms it fired artist for joking about Charlie Kirk shooting: ‘Making light of someone’s murder is a deal-breaker’
Latest in News
End of an era as Bowser (no not that one) retires from Nintendo
Someone made the Metal Gear Solid 4 channel-surfing section into a game and it’s absolutely perfect
Diablo 4 is crossing the streams with Starcraft cosmetics, and honestly? A Terran marine makes a better Barbarian than I’d have expected
In Falsus is the exact kind of mega-anime rhythm game I’ve been desperate for on PC
Turns out, Microsoft will offer Windows 10 security updates for free until 2026—but unfortunately not in the US or the UK
Silksong’s Any% speedrun is already below 1 hour, in case you were worried this game would be too hard to clown on
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES
LATEST GAME REVIEWS
Best gaming laptop in 2025: I’ve had my hands on the best laptops for gaming of this generation and these are the ones I recommend
Best SSD for gaming in 2025: the fastest and the best value solid state drives to perk up your PC
Best Hall effect keyboards in 2025: the fastest, most customizable keyboards for competitive gaming
Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC
Best graphics cards in 2025: I’ve tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today’s top cards
Corsair Sabre V2 Pro Ultralight Wireless gaming mouse review
Glorious Model O3 Wireless review
Hades 2 review: A sequel worthy of the throne
Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles review: An extraordinary remaster of an essential RPG
Baby Steps review: One of the funniest games I’ve ever played is also one of the most frustrating
PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
Contact Future’s experts
Terms and conditions
Privacy policy
Cookies policy
Advertise with us
Accessibility Statement
Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury,
BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.
Please login or signup to comment
Please wait…
