Nintendo Names New President Following Tragic Death Of Satoru Iwata

It has been two months since the untimely passing of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. Today, the company has named a successor to lead the company through the Wii U era and into the future.

Tatsumi Kimishima, who steered Nintendo of America through the GameCube era, will now lead the entire company. Prior to joining Nintendo in 2002 as a director of the United States branch, Kimishima spent two years as a representative director of The Pokémon Company, in which Nintendo holds an interest.

In June 2013, he became a managing director of the company, general manager of the corporate analysis and administration division, and general manager of the general affairs division. A year later he was also given purview over the human resources operations.

Along with Kimishima’s appointment comes some minor changes to other staffing. In addition to their existing titles, Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto have been named as the company’s first fellows. Takeda, who is general manager of the integrated research and development division is now a technology fellow. Miyamoto, who is the general manager of the entertainment analysis and development division is Nintendo’s first creative fellow.

Nintendo defines fellows as “an individual selected from among the representative directors  who has advanced knowledge and extensive experience, and holds the role of providing advice and guidance regarding organizational operations in a specialized area.” These appointments go into effect on September 16.

[Source: Nintendo]

Our Take
It appears that Nintendo is making a statement choosing a Japanese native with strong Western ties. This has great potential to bridge the gap and bring third-parties based and operating significantly in North America and Europe back into the fold as the company prepares to reveal information on the new NX gaming device next year.