Iwata to become Nintendo of America CEO

[Mirby]

NINTENDO CO., LTD. ANNOUNCES PROMOTION OF NOA CHAIRMAN TATSUMI KIMISHIMA TO NCL MANAGING DIRECTOR

Led Nintendo of America Since 2002

REDMOND, Wash., April 24, 2013 – Nintendo Co., Ltd. (NCL) today announced a planned promotion for Tatsumi Kimishima, current chairman and CEO of Nintendo of America (NOA) and a director of its parent Nintendo Co., Ltd. Subject to shareholder approval, he will become NCL managing director, and transfer from NOA in Redmond, Wash., to NCL headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. In his new position, he will assume the roles of general manager of Corporate Analysis and Administration, and general manager of the General Affairs Division. These titles are currently held by Yoshihiro Mori and Masaharu Matsumoto respectively, both of whom are retiring. Kimishima will assume his new duties in Kyoto later this summer.

Kimishima was named to his current position at NOA in 2006. He first joined Nintendo in Japan in 2000, and was subsequently named president of Pokémon USA in 2001, before moving on to become president of the Nintendo of America subsidiary in 2002. Previously, he spent 27 years at Sanwa Bank of Japan, with multiple postings in North America and Central America.

Many of his current responsibilities, including the CEO title, will be assumed by Global President Satoru Iwata. The move will support the company’s unified global strategy, allow streamlined decision making and enhance Nintendo's organizational agility in the current competitive environment. Reggie Fils-Aime will continue in his role as president and COO of NOA, reporting to Iwata.

Other changes announced to Nintendo’s global board of directors can be found at http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/.

Source

[The Damned]

At first I was all "Iwata got demoted and Reggie is out?" but I see that it is more like they're adding the position to Iwata's roster of positions he already has.

Really, they're just moving one guy up while adding another little tidbit to the end of Iwata's business card. Nothing else really seems to be changing: Reggie still holds his spot, he still reports to the same people, Iwata is still in charge of Japan and global overall.

The real question is what Tatsumi Kimishima will change...

[Devyn]

Wow.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-57581124-235/nintendos-earnings-disappoint-as-wii-u-falls-short/

"For the "Wii U" system, launched in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013, there were some delays in software development that resulted in intervals between new software title releases at the early stage of this year. Taking this into consideration, for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, we plan to concentrate on proactively releasing key Nintendo titles from the second half of this year through next year in order to regain momentum for the platform. Nintendo strives to improve the sales by communicating the compelling nature of our hardware and software to as many people as possible through our new network service called "Miiverse," which offers an environment where people can empathize with others and share their gaming experiences. We also strive to reduce costs to improve hardware profitability."

I don't know if this is good news or bad news. I think consumers and reviewers have been way too hard on the Wii U console. That said, I think Nintendo needs to get with the times and get the games out. You can tell that the company is really trying to appeal to its legacy fans here. ALTTP 2? Earthbound finally. I just think such a crazy decision like this occurring is really reflective of the world economy, just things in general. A head from Japan putting in a position at America? Regardless if it's more title to appeal to investors, it's still a big deal.

This is unprecedented, coming from Nintendo, in my little humble opinion. I hope this is good news for the company and I really think that they are willing to acknowledge that they messed up. Regardless, I still love the Wii U. Release the big names, market the damn thing, and bring back Starfox and F-Zero, and don't just make new IP, but market them.

As far as the company caving in, I personally wouldn't count on it yet. Nintendo is sitting on a big pile of money, regardless of profit loss. They have been playing this game since the late 1800's, but I strongly believe they are having to step it up because they are losing their presence in the Western hemisphere. I look forward to seeing what the company will do now that it has its head removed from its hind quarters. Good luck and I'll see you guys on Mario Kart HD a little faster now.

Edit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatsumi_Kimishima

I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. Just listen to dude up above. Apparently heads from Japan coming to America already happened before. Oops.

Edited April 24, 2013 by megadave
trying to make my posts look cuter and fancier

[Modus]

Titles, titles.. in the Super Nintendo Monarchy. They made Iwata the face of Nintendo and his move to CEO is probably a branding strategy. I think he's endearing as heck, so I'm all for it.

[The Damned]

I love how that article is all "they did so badly this year" after saying

The one bit of good news for Nintendo was that the company was able to post a slight profit of 7 billion yen. However, the company had hoped to generate a 14 billion yen profit.

They're so much smaller than all of their competitors, yet they turn out proportionally huge profits each year. Sony posts regular losses in multiple divisions each year (2012 saw them at a loss of US$ -5.569 billion. That's NEGATIVE money. They lost over 5 billion bucks last year) but we don't hear about it from anyone.

But you know... Nintendoomed.