Nintendo has named 65-year-old Tatsumi Kimishima as the company’s new president following the death of Satoru Iwata, who passed away in July at 55.
Kimishima previously worked as Nintendo’s head of human resources, which has caused many to question his appointment to president, with some citing that famous video game creator and the man behind the Mario franchise, Shigeru Miyamoto, should instead have been named the company’s new president.
But when you think about it, why would Miyamoto want to run a giant corporation when his talents clearly lay in the video game development and production space? Wii architect Genyo Takeda and Miyamoto have been acting as interim co-presidents at the company, but their expertise are likely more useful elsewhere.
Kimishima has held several high-profile positions at Nintendo, including CFO of the Pokemon Company, as well as president of Nintendo of America between 2002 and 2006. He also reportedly played a significant role in the Wii’s monumental success in Canada and the United States.
However, it’s important to note that Kimishima doesn’t come from a development background like Iwata (who created the Kirby franchise). Part of the reason why Iwata was so widely revered by Nintendo fans was because of his deep love and understanding of games. This reason, as well as the fact that he frequently made goofy appearances in Nintendo Direct presentations, quickly made him a popular figure within the gaming industry.
Kimishima’s appointment has led some to speculate the company’s strategy could shift and that because of this, the development of proposed mobile titles with DeNA could halt or at the very least, be considerably altered. But according to documents released alongside announcement of Kimishima’s appointment, Nintendo intends to stay the course when it comes to its partnership with mobile developer DeNA and the company’s plans for the NX, Nintendo’s successor to the Wii U that reportedly blurs the lines between handheld and console devices.
“We aim to strengthen and enhance the management structure of the Company following President (Representative Director) Satoru Iwata’s passing on July 11, 2015 and a large-scale revision of the organizational structure of the Company on September 16, 2015,” reads a statement taken from Nintendo’s press release about Kimishima’s appointment.
Speculation indicates that we could receive additional information about Nintendo’s mobile gaming plans as early as next month.
In other Nintendo related news, the company recently announced Pokemon Go, an augmented reality Pokemon smartphone game, and is preparing to releases the NX, the mysterious follow-up to the struggling Wii U.
Image courtesy of Flickr user David Offf.
[source]Nintendo[/source]
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