Nintendo of America Chief Breaks Down Her First Year: ‘Zelda’ Live-Action Movie, ‘GTA 6,’ Third-Party Game Goals and More

After just under a year in her new role as president of Nintendo of America, Devon Pritchard is ready to share elements of her master plan for the beloved Japanese gaming company. At the center of her strategy is the relative youth of Nintendo’s Switch 2, which undeniably puts the company ahead of gaming console competitors (Xbox and PlayStation) that are still stuck at the end of their older-model life cycles.

“We’re just at the beginning of seeing what Nintendo Switch 2 can do,” says Pritchard, who took over for longtime Nintendo of America chief Doug Bowser in January.

Compared with its first-generation predecessor, the Switch 2 has improved graphics and better processing power, allowing for new styles of play. “That opens up a number of different ways for the developers to create experiences that can only be found on Nintendo Switch 2,” she explains.

Popular on Variety

Switch 2’s more powerful capabilities are among the reasons Microsoft’s Activision is bringing the “Call of Duty” franchise back to Nintendo consoles for the first time in more than a decade. This fall, it will launch “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4” on Switch 2, in addition to its releases on Xbox and PlayStation systems — a clear signal that Nintendo’s latest system can hold its own in fast-paced action games.

Sales of Switch 2, released in June 2025, have topped more than 23 million units to date. Nintendo has released hundreds of titles for the platform, ranging from first-party hits like “Mario Kart World” to third-party games like “Resident Evil Requiem.”

“We have historically said that Nintendo is for ages 5 to 95, and that continues to be true,” Pritchard says. “We want to provide a diversity in terms of the types of experiences that you can have on the game system, and that’s really important for us.” Some gamers are excited about role-playing game “Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave”; others want to talk about the cozy “Pokémon Pokopia.” “So we want to make sure we’re a platform where people can come in and have those different types of creative experiences and have fun,” she says.

Is the Switch 2 tent big enough to accommodate “Grand Theft Auto VI” (with its M rating for adult content and themes), due out in November and the most anticipated gaming title of the year? The console certainly has the horsepower to host the M-rated “GTA 6,” but for now Pritchard won’t say if the title is coming to the platform.

“That’s going to be a conversation for Take Two and Rockstar, but nothing to announce on my end at this time,” Pritchard says.

Alongside the plan to make the most out Switch 2’s just-beginning life cycle, Pritchard has one big Nintendo milestone that’s already setting her team up for success: the 40th anniversary of the “Legend of Zelda” franchise. The moment will be marked with the release of a remake of the beloved “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” (which is the only high-profile game brave enough to go up against the November launch window for “GTA 6”), a “Zelda”-inspired live concert series, and culminate with the debut next April of the live-action “Zelda” movie made in collaboration with Sony. But Nintendo is walking a fine line with an anniversary of this magnitude as it looks to please both diehards and newcomers.

“I think it’s really about the celebration of ‘Zelda’ and the ‘Zelda’ universe in its entirety,” Pritchard says. “It’s Link, it’s Zelda, and all the other characters. I think it’s more about, how do we create a celebration that everyone can come in and join and connect with that world?”

That also means the company has the potential to update Universal’s Super Nintendo World locations with limited-time “Zelda” tie-ins — but Pritchard is mindful of how that could affect established “very immersive experiences” that are already packed with Mario and Donkey Kong rides. For Nintendo, it cannot be additive if it’s not organic.

Says Pritchard: “Whether it’s the theme park, whether it’s movies, anything we’re going to do is going to be deliberate and thoughtful about that experience that you’re having.”