Don’t discount Tatsumi Kimishima’s own talents

Tatsumi Kimishima is the new face here, and has a background in banking, but that doesn’t mean he’s an outsider to the games industry.  His own experience with the Pokemon Company, and being CEO of Nintendo of America.  This international experience may prove valuable.  I suspect that this was a contributing factor to Kimishima being one of the voices concerned that the Wii U was not distinct enough from the Wii.

We now have people assigned to where their skills can be put to the best use

Shigeru Miyamoto is a very creative person for reasons we all know.  Genyo Takeda is also a very creative person, but on the hardware side, having been one of the strong advocates to take such a radically different approach for the Wii at the time.  It’s harder to get a feel for Takeda than Miyamoto, his position being much less public, but still it seems that directing hardware development is to him what the software side is for Miyamoto.  Between the two of them, while they were sharing the responsibilities, Takeda was considered to be the likely candidate to assume the presidency.  I would guess that many of those predictions were based on the fact that Miyamoto was clearly not the right choice, and Takeda was the other one.

Now, instead of having 2 people sharing the responsibility for all of Nintendo, the insertion of Tatsumi Kimishima gives us in effect a 3 pronged approach to handling the company.  A tri-force if you will.

Behold, my most impressive use of GIMP to date!

Shigeru Miyamoto is now officially “Software Fellow”, and Genyo Takeda is “Technology Fellow”.  Tatsumi Kimishima, on the other hand, can focus on the business of things, and keep Miyamoto’s and Takeda’s plates clear to do what they each do best.

What might come in the future?

Is Tatsumi Kimishima suited to hold the top spot long term?  Hiroshi Yamauchi was  president overseeing the transition of Nintendo to primarily a video game company with the NES and Super NES, though he was not exactly a game person either.  It’s possible that Kimishima is only intended to help steady the ship in the wake of Satoru Iwata’s passing.  He’s not here to be the public face of the company, just to maintain stability.  He may stick around for a long time, especially if things go well, but I suspect that’s not what is expected.  Rather, the stability he provides is to keep things moving while a more permanent appointment can be found.  Kimishima has only been elected to the role for one year, and is not sure himself what will happen after that.  He also thinks it’s possible that people from outside Nintendo may be appointed to positions of authority in the company.  This would be a significant change for the usually insular Nintendo, but we can only wait and see.  Perhaps they will go outside in a different way and Reggie Fils-Amie will wind up with the top spot?  He has some business chops of his own, working with Proctor & Gamble, Pizza Hut, and Guinness.  Who knows, but at least he seems playful enough to be a fun front man for Nintendo Direct!

Kynetyk is a veteran of the games industry.  Behind the Line is written to help improve understanding of what goes on in the game development process and the business behind it.  From “What’s taking this game so long to release”, to “why are there bugs”, to “Why is this free to play” or anything else, if there is a topic that you would like to see covered, please write in to kynetyk@enthusiacs.com

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