Tatsumi Kimishima Named As New Nintendo President

[Phexar]

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/201...endo_president

Since the tragic and untimely passing of Satoru Iwata, there has been much speculation about who will assume his role as President of Nintendo. Since Iwata's death the company has been overseen jointly by Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda, and many felt that one of the pair would eventually take up the position full-time.

However, Nintendo has decided to select Tatsumi Kimishima as its president. Aged 65, Kimishima is currently head of human resources at the company. He certainly has the experience - he was head of Nintendo of America from 2002 to 2006, and oversaw the launch of the Wii console in that region.
He has also held several senior roles in the Pokémon company, including Chief Financial Officer and overall President. Prior to joining Nintendo, he worked for 27 years at Sanwa Bank of Japan.

According to Bloomberg, Miyamoto and Takeda will stay with the company and take on the roles of "Creative Fellow" and "Technology Fellow," respectively.

I didn't see this posted anywhere here yet, but they've finally chosen Iwata's replacement.

Edit: A little more info on some of his plans:
https://twitter.com/serkantoto/statu...47745529536512
https://twitter.com/serkantoto/statu...48727743279104
https://twitter.com/serkantoto/statu...48850967773184

1) The Nikkei quotes new Nintendo boss Kimishima as saying there won’t be changes in the basic strategy set up by former president Iwata.

2) Kimishima says the challenge is now to identify new projects+cultivate the right human resources to reach Nintendo-like profits again.

3) The Nikkei also quotes Nintendo’s Genyo Takeda as saying the aim is to establish a future-proof group leadership system inside Nintendo.

More from https://twitter.com/serkantoto

1) In an interview with the Nikkei today, new Nintendo president Kimishima says Iwata didn’t give him instructions how to run the company.

2) He says he is elected for 1 year and doesn’t know what will come next. Says he is not against company outsiders to lead Nintendo one day.

3) Kimishima also confirms that Nintendo’s smartphone and IP-related plans won’t change. Says the task is now to develop new businesses.

1) In yet another Nikkei article (last I summarize/translate), new Nintendo boss Kimishima’s personality is described as “soft+friendly".

2) According to the Nikkei, Kimishima predicted Wii U’s failure when it was introduced by warning it’s too similar to the original Wii.

3) Despite his business background, he is quoted as saying it’s wrong to lead a gaming company on numbers alone.

4) The Nikkei claims Kimishima wasn’t Iwata’s favorite choice. Nintendo was 1st looking for somebody younger but didn’t have the personnel.

5) The article also suggests the troika was a rushed decision because the holiday season, where Nintendo makes 50%+ of sales, is near.

6) Accordingly, Kimishima is quoted as saying one task for him will be to develop the next group leadership structure for Nintendo. /end

[Baloo]

This should be interesting.

[Kamahl]

According to the Nikkei, Kimishima predicted Wii U’s failure when it was introduced by warning it’s too similar to the original Wii.

Though I disagree with his reason for the failure, at least he could tell something was off. Might just be a good thing to have him at the helm for awhile, though he seems cautious and not wanting to screw up the late Iwata's plans.

[retrospiel]

Kind of a impossible to replace Iwata, that's for sure. Still, he seems like a good choice. The Nintendo "Revolution" campaign really helped to catapult the Wii to the top as it managed to get the hardcore Nintendo fans on board prior launch. Without it people would have shrugged it off without giving it a chance similar as to what happened with the Wii U.