You Probably Don't Know Nintendo's New President

Nintendo just announced that Tatsumi Kimishima is the company's new president, following the passing of Satoru Iwata in July.

You probably haven't heard Kimishima's name before. Though he's been with Nintendo just as long as Iwata (since 2000), serving in a number of important roles including CEO of Nintendo of America, managing director, and representative director of the Pokémon Company, he hasn't held a public facing role. Prior to joining the Pokémon Company, Kimishima was general manager at the Sanwa Bank, now part of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

This is especially noticeable given recent years, when important people at the company, including Iwata, Mario and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto, and president of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aimé, have all been featured prominently in trade shows and ads for Nintendo products.

In addition to naming a new president, Nintendo announced that the company will undergo "a large-scale revision of the organizational structure," with the aim of strengthening and enhancing its management structure.

It's not clear what that means exactly, but it does look like everyone has new titles. Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda, who've been supposedly guiding the company since Iwata's passing, now hold the titles of Creative Fellow and Technology Fellow, respectively. Their previous titles were General Manager, Integrated Research & Development Division and General Manager, Entertainment Analysis & Development Division.

The Japanese newspaper Nikkei (via Tokyo-based games industry analyst Serkan Toto) quotes Kimishima as saying that he won't change the basic strategy put forth by Iwata.

Keep in mind that Iwata also started a major transitional period for Nintendo before he passed, announcing the company's new NX platform (that we know little about), and a serious foray into the mobile games market, with Nintendo franchises coming to smartphones soon. I doubt that we'll notice the era of Kimishima as president before these plans play out, and whether the structural change will mean anything to players remains to be seen.