Nintendo announced the appointment of Tatsumi Kimishima to the position of CEO, on Sept. 14, 2015. The news came two months after the passing of Satoru Iwata, the programmer, developer, and self-proclaimed gamer who served as Nintendo’s president and CEO for 13 years until July 2015.
Kimishima was previously the CFO of The Pokémon Company in 2000, as well as Nintendo’s previous managing director, head of human resources, and president of Nintendo of America. Kimishima worked at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ for 27 years before joining Nintendo.
“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 Sept. 16, 2015,” explained a Sept. 14 Nintendo press release.
In addition to Kimishima’s hiring, Nintendo announced several role changes within its corporate structure. Shigeru Miyamoto, the developer behind popular characters like Mario, Link, and Star Fox, is now Nintendo’s Creative Fellow; Genyo Takeda, a hardware designer who was one of the lead developers for the Wii console, is now Nintendo’s Technology Fellow.
According to the same press release, a fellow is “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.”
Kimishima’s hiring comes at a pivotal time in Nintendo’s history. Earlier this year, Nintendo announced that it planned on releasing a next-gen console, currently codenamed NX. The move comes at a surprising juncture, and analysts have taken it to mean that Nintendo is prepared to accept its mistakes with the release of its Wii U console—a device that developers have called notoriously difficult to program for.
In addition to its plans on releasing a next-gen console, Nintendo has recently begun working on expanding its indie gaming presence. At this year’s Penny Arcade Expo, Nintendo hosted an indie gaming event, highlighting its efforts in building meaningful relationships outside of AAA developer circles.
In spite of Nintendo’s attempts to return to market dominance, however, the company is still failing at attempts to make its current-gen home console truly relevant. More bad news for the Wii U came on Sept. 18, when Shigeru Miyamoto announced that Star Fox Zero—a major Wii U release—would be delayed until early 2016. “We have been developing Star Fox Zero for Wii U with the aim of releasing it this year,” said Miyamoto in a Sept. 18 Facebook post. “Although we felt that the development had been progressing well, we now believe that we will need a little more time to work on areas such as the unprecedented discovery that we want players to experience in the game by using two screens, and further polishing the level designs and perfecting the tone of the cut scenes.”
The game’s delay means that Nintendo’s holiday release line-up is spare, and also further hints at the difficulty associated with developing games for the Wii U.
As Nintendo looks to its future, Kimishima’s hiring represents an important step forward in returning the gaming company to relevance and success.
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