Nintendo Announces New President, Company Reorganization Planned

65-year-old Tatsumi Kimishima has been appointed as the new President of Nintendo, and some major changes are happening at the House of Mario.

Nintendo has announced that its new President will be Tatsumi Kimishima and that the company will be experiencing a major reorganization. Kimishima, an executive member of Nintendo's boards in Japan and America, has a ton of history with the company. He will be succeeding the late, great Satoru Iwata, who died two months ago from complications of a bile duct tumor.

"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," Nintendo announced in a public statement.

Tatsumi Kimishima's employment history primarily consists of 27 years of work at Sanwa Bank of Japan, where he dealt with international business development, corporate planning and company communications. In 2000, Kimishima made the jump to the gaming industry as The Pokemon Company's Chief Financial Officer, being promoted to President of Pokemon USA Inc. in 2001. During his two years at The Pokemon Company and its American counterpart, Kimishima saw tremendous success as the franchise's popularity was at its peak in North America with the likes of Pokemon Gold and Silver.

Hiroshi Yamauchi, the President of Nintendo since 1949, stepped down from his position in 2001, appointing son-in-law Minoru Arakawa as Nintendo of America's President. Unfortunately, the Nintendo GameCube was being slaughtered by the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox in terms of sales, and Arakawa retired less than a year after becoming Nintendo America's President. One of Yamauchi's final acts as company President before handing the reins over to Satoru Iwata was appointing Kimishima to become the President of Nintendo of America. Kimishima remained Nintendo America's President until May 2006, where he was succeeded by Reggie Fils-Aime.

Kimishima's successes in Nintendo of America led to him becoming Chairman of the Board and CEO of Nintendo of America. Even after appointing Reggie Fils-Aime his successor, Kimishima still resides on the boards of both Nintendo of America and Nintendo Company Ltd.

We should note that the Genyo Takeda, the General Manager of Nintendo's Integrated Research & Development Division, has been appointed the new title of "Technology Fellow." Likewise, legendary Nintendo game creator Shigeru Miyamoto, also the General Manager of Entertainment Analysis & Development Division, has been given the new title of "Creative Fellow." These two new ranks suggest that the two men will be in charge of and guiding Nintendo's respective technological and creative divisions.

In all honesty, it's going to be tough to see whether or not the 65-year-old Kimishima will be able to resonate with Nintendo's younger audiences as effectively as Iwata did. Iwata was quite oriented towards engaging the public at video game conventions/conferences and in the company's Nintendo Direct events. We have yet to hear any updates about Nintendo's mobile gaming initiative alongside DeNA Games, which is expected to begin sometime before the year is finished. Due to the underwhelming sales of the Wii U, perhaps a more business-focused approach is needed in preparation of the mysterious NX console (which won't be revealed until 2016) along with Nintendo's expansion into mobile gaming.

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