Nintendo appoints Tatsumi Kimishima as director

Tatsumi Kimishima is the new president of Nintendo. He succeeds Satoru Iwata, who died in July from cancer. Kimishima will officially become the new director on Wednesday 16 September.

Nintendo announced the decision in a press release on Monday. Kimishima, now 65, began his career as an employee of Sanwa Bank in 1973. In 2000, he was hired as director of the Pokémon Company, before joining Nintendo two years later as director of the US branch. He is the second CEO after Iwata who does not come from the Yamauchi family. That family provided the first three directors of the Japanese company.

The company has been run by Iwata since 2002 and he was the fourth CEO in Nintendo history. He died at the age of 55 from the effects of a tumor in the bile duct. Under Iwata’s leadership, Nintendo released many successful software and hardware such as the Wii, DS, Super Smash Bros. and the Pokémon series. But in addition to the successes, the game landscape also changed significantly. He had to make strategic changes, such as releasing the Amiibo doll series and deciding to make mobile games for smartphones and tablets.

Since Iwata’s death, Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto have run the company. Miyamoto is known for the development of Donkey Kong, Mario and Zelda. Takeda is one of the main developers of the Wii. Miyamoto and Takeda have been named Creative Fellows and Technology Fellows, respectively, and will act as advisors to Kimishima. Furthermore, Kimishima is said to have made it clear that there will be no shocking strategy changes and that the aim is to improve profitability with, among other things, new projects.