Nintendo has announced its new president following the tragically young death of Satoru Iwata (opens in new tab). Say hello to Tatsumi Kimishima, a former HR head who had previously held Reggie Fils-Aime’s job as President of Nintendo America.
Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto, who had been running the company in the interim, are now ‘Technology Fellow’ and ‘Creative Fellow’ respectively according to the press release (opens in new tab). That role is defined 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.”
So who’s Tatsumi Kimishima? Previous jobs have included head of the The Sanwa Bank, director of The Pokémon Company, and director/CEO of Nintendo of America. There had been some minor speculation way back in 2013 that he was being groomed as a successor Iwata after some corporate reshuffling at the time.
He seems a much more business focused choice, with a strong corporate background rather than one in game design. He worked for 27 years at the Sanwa Bank dealing with “corporate planning and international business development” and his move into games came as chief financial officer when he joined the Pokémon Company. With that in mind it’ll be interesting to see what his first decisions will be when he starts on September 16th.
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