Remember when Nintendo products weren’t sold on Amazon US around 2011-2015 and 2024-2025? ICYMI, the State of California is suing Amazon for price-fixing, by pressuring merchants and wholesalers to not price their products lower on other sites—not even a single cent of disadvantage is tolerated (img below).
But because Amazon fees are higher than the others, this essentially forces sellers to raise prices elsewhere. It isn’t just smaller merchants getting squeezed, Hanes, Skullcandy, Levi’s, and other well-known brands also cooperated. See this video for a primer:
Although Nintendo products are mostly sold at the MSRP, it isn’t a stretch to think that Amazon regardless attempted to wrest financial concessions from Nintendo of America. In fact, Reggie Fils-Aimé revealed that he had to rebuff “illegal” demands from Amazon (img below; likely referring to the Robinson-Patman Act).
“Sean”, former NoA Sales Lead, portrayed the standoff thusly:
Amazon may have said ‘you know, what if we just didn’t sell your product’, and Nintendo may have said [rising intonation] ‘what if?’
NoA was able to stand fast for a simple reason. According to Sean, when the company stopped shipping to Amazon, “we did not see sales decrease”. It surely is easier to have a backbone when one has distinct products and dedicated fans like Nintendo.
[Sidebar] A 2025 Bloomberg article suggested that the 2024-2025 rift between the two companies was due to Amazon allowing merchants to sell gray market imports. The report, however, was based on only one anonymous source. Nintendo issued a strongly worded denial: “There is no such fact.” Amazon also stated that the Bloomberg’s claims were “inaccurate”.
[Originally posted on 2026-10-15 Pacific Time]
