Tatsumi Kimishima Named Nintendo President Effective September 16

Tatsumi Kimishima Named Nintendo President Effective September 16

Tatsumi Kimishima has been named as Nintendo’s new President and successor to Satoru Iwata, who passed away earlier this year from a bile duct growth. His term as President is effective from September 16.

Kimishima is an obvious choice from his extensive leadership experience at Nintendo and elsewhere. Before joining Nintendo, Kimishima worked at Sanwa Bank and became General Manager of one of its branches, working his way up through the ranks ever since.

His previous roles within Nintendo have included Chief Financial Officer of The Pokemon Company and Director of Nintendo America, as well as the company's Managing Director and Head of Human Resources for a time.

In addition to promoting Kimishima to the role of President, new "Fellow" roles have been introduced to serve as a support network for him. Nintendo explains the Fellow as "an individual selected from among the representative directors who has advanced knowledge and extensive experience." Their duties involve "providing advice and guidance regarding organisational operations in a specialised area."

Genyo Takeda, creator of Punch-Out! and current General Manager of Nintendo's Research and Development division has been appointed as a Technology Fellow. Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario and currently General Manager of the Entertainment & Analysis division, has taken up the role of Creative Fellow.

Kimishima takes the role of Nintendo President as the company prepares to debut its next gaming console, codenamed the NX. Originally, Iwata announced the company would not discuss the NX until 2016; however, the decision to announce the project early is a way for Nintendo, according to the company, to affirm their “strong enthusiasm for the dedicated game system business.”

We here at Highway Games and the general gaming community welcome Nintendo’s new President, Tatsumi Kimishima, and are excited to see the fantastic work he and his Fellows will achieve.