Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé has seemingly subtly commented on Nintendo’s decision not to include Welcome Tour as a free pack-in with Nintendo Switch 2.
Welcome Tour breaks down the Switch 2’s features, explains to the player how everything works and demonstrates this through a series of mini-games.
When the game was first debuted during Nintendo‘s Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, many fans expected the game to be packed in with the system, but it was quickly clarified that the game would be a paid experience.
Nintendo has defended the decision, with Nintendo’s Bill Trinen saying that the $9.99 cost “is not an exorbitant price” in his eyes, and that it’s “a pretty robust piece of software” with “a lot of great detail in there”.
But Fils-Aimé, who was president and COO of Nintendo of America during the height of its success with the Nintendo Wii, has seemingly made a sly comment on the decision, referencing his push to pack in Wii Sports with the Nintendo Wii.
Fils-Aimé posted several clips to X from an IGN podcast he appeared on two years ago, during which he discussed the internal fight at Nintendo over whether or not to include Wii Sports with the Nintendo Wii.
“It’s an understatement to say that Mr Miyamoto pushed back,” Fils-Aime said at the time. “During the development of Wii and Wii Sports, the goal was, we wanted the system to be attractive to not only the most active players, but to new players, we saw Wii Sports as the way to be able to do that.”
The story of Wii Sports pack in …https://t.co/LhflSFWaL3
— Reggie Fils-Aimé (@Reggie) April 9, 2025
He went on to explain in another clip from the same podcast that the game was only packed in with the Wii in certain regions, which he argues led to the console being more successful in those regions than in its native Japan.
“In the Americas and in Europe, Wii Sports was packed in, but it was not in Japan, which created a bit of a test market. it was obvious in the markets that Wii Sports was packed in, Wii became much more of a phenomenon, Wii Sports became much more of a phenomenon.”
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will release on June 5, the same day as Nintendo Switch 2.
VGC recently attended a Switch 2 event in Paris, where a number of Switch 2 games were available to play, including Welcome Tour and some of its mini-games.
