Nintendo has announced its new Worldwide President after the recent passing of the beloved Satoru Iwata at age 55.
As part of a company-wide corporate restructure Tatsumi Kimishima has been named as the man responsible for taking Nintendo’s global business forward and will begin his new promotion on September 16th. Kimishima, 65, becomes the company’s fifth Worldwide President after Iwata and started his career in finance with the Sanwa Bank of Japan where he spent 27 years.
He joined Nintendo in 2000 as Chief Financial Officer of the Pokémon Company before being promoted to Pokémon USA President a year later. Kimishima’s ascent has been an impressive speed-run, and by 2002 he was President of Nintendo America where he held the position until he was succeeded by current President Reggie Fils-Aimé, whose body was ready in 2006. Kimishma then moved into the CEO role or Nintendo America as well as becoming manager of General Affairs and Corporate Analysis for the whole of Nintendo in 2014.
During his time with Nintendo, Kimishima has worn more caps than Super Mario and with this versatile range of experience should prove a worthy Worldwide President. We are unsure however whether he will be as public-facing as his predecessor.
Satoru was famously known for taking a jovial approach to the business, game for a laugh and always getting involved in the publicity of new Nintendo products for Wii U and 3DS with participation in features such as ‘Iwata Says’ and with appearances at gaming events such as E3 which he even appeared at last year via video broadcasts despite suffering serious illness.
With Nintendo emerging from disappointing financial performance in recent years and with the company about to embark on new directions with its ties to mobile app firm DeNA, and the mysterious new ‘NX’ console being developed, we suspect Kimishima’s role will be a more serious one. At least while Nintendo takes its first steps into a new untested future. We wish him the very best.