Topic: A Post-"Please Understand" Company: Nintendo After Mr. Iwata's Passing

[Luigi Dude]

There's probably some younger members of Nintendo management that we don't know about that Iwata and management have been grooming for larger roles.  The next several years of Nintendo's future have already been decided and set in motion before Iwata died, so I wouldn't be surprised if the new president is someone from the current board who could easily be in their 60's, but they only plan on being president for the next few years to finish what Iwata started.

But during this time I imagine they'll be actively training several of these younger members in the company to get them prepared and finally choose the one they feel is the best to lead the company in the long term after they feel the company is running smoothly again.

[Adrock]

Some food for thought.

In 2011, the Wall Street Journal asked Miyamoto whether he felt he deserved to be the president of Nintendo. He said, "I never wanted to be president. I know it’s presumptuous but my concern was what I would do if I was chosen. I knew if I was chosen, I’d have to run away. I’m not suited for that kind of job. I like being a little on the outside.�

Granted, that was four years ago and things can change (though with age, I can see him leaning even more towards this line of thinking). Additionally, I'd imagine it's tough to answer that question honestly when the actual president is your direct supervisor and likely the only person in the entire company you answer to. With Iwata's passing, Miyamoto may be forced to take on some extra responsibilities in the short-term. If he was even moderately on the fence before, he'll know for sure in the next few weeks.

I still think Iwata and Nintendo's board of directors had a contingency plan in place even if that involves Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda acting as interim presidents and handling those responsibilities while a true successor is promoted and installed. Iwata was ill for over a year to the point where he took a leave of absence for health reasons. Under those circumstances, I doubt Nintendo's board of directors shrugged and said, "Beh, it'll work itself out."

[sudoshuff]

The Wall Street Journal has an article today that focuses on the possibility of Miyamoto taking over.  I'm sure Nintendo's been working out a plan for someone else internally who has a better business sense to take the reigns, but it seems like the media is really soaking up the idea of "the father of Mario" leading the company.  Again, it's not a feasible long-term option, but I kind of think Nintendo should at least name Miyamoto interim CEO and take advantage of all the positive press attention they will get--they could certainly use it right now.

[Adrock]

I see Miyamoto closer to retirement than becoming president of the entire company. I thought it was relevant to post that quote in which he was flat-out asked about being president and his response was essentially, "Goodness, no. No thank you."

[lolmonade]

The Wall Street Journal has an article today that focuses on the possibility of Miyamoto taking over.  I'm sure Nintendo's been working out a plan for someone else internally who has a better business sense to take the reigns, but it seems like the media is really soaking up the idea of "the father of Mario" leading the company.  Again, it's not a feasible long-term option, but I kind of think Nintendo should at least name Miyamoto interim CEO and take advantage of all the positive press attention they will get--they could certainly use it right now.

Having an interim anything doesn't really help them.  They already have the interim solution, having an interim CEO after having those two as interim company heads doesn't do anything of value, they're gonna wanna take a little bit of time and decide on who will lead the company long-term.

[Ian Sane]

When Miyamoto said he didn't want to do it he naturally would have been assuming some situation where Iwata retired or was let go and the position would be permanent.  This situation is obviously different.  This is more like the company needing him to step up temporarily.

It might also be good for stock purposes because he's a name everyone is familiar with.  The stock might drop if an unknown is given the position.  Go with Miyamoto for a year or so and at the same time involve the proper successor in public facing events like E3 and Nintendo Directs so that we become familiar with him.  Then when the transition occurs the person is already a "name" and thus seen as a safe choice.

[Evan_B]

I sure hope it's not the fellow who was on the last Japanese Nintendo Direct because he was depressing as hell.

[Adrock]

It should be the lady who talked about making Yoshi dolls for roughly 37% of the Nintendo E3 Digital Event.

[Luigi Dude]

The reason I doubt Miyamoto will take the job is because he'd have less time to be involved with actual game development which he still loves to do.  This is why I'd lean more on Takeda taking the job the next couple years since he's still a well known and loved figure to the stockholders so it wouldn't cause a panic to investors.  Plus since he was the guy in charge of hardware, he has more experience on the business side of things and dealing with other companies which is going to be very important this next year with the NX getting ready to be released.

Yeah he's 66, but after Iwata has tragically died so early, I wouldn't be surprised if he's willing to stay with the company longer along with other older members of the board, since Nintendo's future has become a lot more emotional to them now.

[ThePerm]

It would be crazy if it was Bill Trinen.

[Soren]

It would be crazy if it was Bill Trinen.

Yes, it would.

[Luigi Dude]

I wouldn't be surprised if Bill becomes the President of NOA in the next few years.  Notice how Bill started being shown more after Iwata become CEO of NOA just a few years ago.  He's been getting a lot more public these last few years which leads me to believe they might have already been trying to prepare him for that role even when Iwata was still alive.

With the CEO position of NOA now open, it wouldn't surprised me if Reggie is given the job so he can focus on the pure business side of things, while Bill is promoted to Present to help give NOA a new face for the coming generations that's actually more experienced with the games unlike Reggie's who's always been a marketing man.  Bill has been with the company for a long time, has lots of experience localizing the games and even being involved with development by giving actual feedback to the teams in Japan based on reactions in the West, plus he's fluent in Japanese so he can actually communicate a lot easier with NCL.

Even though we don't know who Iwata wanted to succeed him at NCL, I wouldn't be surprised if Bill was his number one choice to eventually be the president of NOA.

[MrPhishfood]

I thought you guys might like one of the Iwata Asks parodies I read a long time ago.

Iawata Asks Hawkeye

[NWR_insanolord]

It would be crazy if it was Bill Trinen.

Yes, it would.

I wouldn't be completely shocked if he ended up in that job someday, I think he's got the best chance of anyone who's not Japanese, but it's not happening now.

[sudoshuff]

I wouldn't be completely shocked if he ended up in that job someday, I think he's got the best chance of anyone who's not Japanese, but it's not happening now.

Yes, especially since his Japanese is supposedly nearly perfect.  I think it's more likely that he will lead NOA someday.

[Enner]

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2015/150914e.pdf

Tatsumi Kimishima is now President of Nintendo Co., Ltd.

From the IR:

(3) Career Record of new Representative Director
Date of Birth : April 21, 1950
Education : Faculty of Law, Hitotsubashi University
Birthplace : Tokyo
Career Record :
Apr. 1973 Joined The Sanwa Bank, Ltd. (currently The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.)
Oct. 1998 Appointed as General Manager of Shinbashi Branch of The Sanwa Bank, Ltd.
Dec. 2000 Appointed as Representative Director of The Pokémon Company
Jan. 2002 Appointed as Director of Nintendo of America Inc. (to present)
Jun. 2002 Appointed as Director of the Company (to present)
May 2006 Appointed as Director and Chairman (CEO) of Nintendo of America Inc.
Jun. 2013 Appointed as Managing Director (to present)
General Manager, Corporate Analysis & Administration Division (to present) and
General Manager, General Affairs Division (to present)
Jun. 2014 In charge of Human Resources Division (to present)
-----

From my meager understanding, a lawyer-by-education became a bank man. Now his path as a management executive brought him all the way to the big chair.

Perhaps this is the safest and most obvious choice for Nintendo? To have an old business executive that has been with the company for some time be their new leader?

[broodwars]

Because nothing screams "I'm the leader of a company that makes toys & games for children!"...

...like this face.



I really don't know what to make of this. The guy's a former head of NoA that no one heard of until he got promoted out of NoA so Iwata could (incompetently) run it.  I have no idea what kind of Nintendo to expect from this. *shrugs*

[NWR_insanolord]

Having it be someone who worked in the American branch for as long as he did could produce some interesting results. People always complain that Nintendo doesn't care enough about what happens in western markets, and a guy with his background might change things significantly in that regard.

[Enner]

It's hard to get a read on the man given his lack of publicity. He went from being a banker to director of The Pokemon Company and then to Nintendo of America. While NoA has its problems, I always saw The Pokemon Company as more progressive compared to NCL. But who knows if Kimishima had anything to do with my impression of The Pokemon Company.

My big question is if he was pushing forward or holding back the branches he was in charge of. I'm finding it impossible to answer that. The only thing I can be sure of is that Kimishima is a business man that is going to business.

http://www.wired.com/2015/09/nintendo-new-president/

Chirs Kohlar has made the observation that EAD and SPD may have been merged in to the Entertainment Planning & Development Division under the direction of Shinya Takahashi.

Also that Miyamoto and Takeda are now Creative Fellow and Technology Fellow, respectively. A sign of those two backing away from the business side of Nintendo?


EDIT: Lastly, note that Kimishima is 65 years old. Even taking in to consideration Japan's idiosyncrasies, one wonders how long of a term Kimishima will serve.

[Enner]

http://gonintendo.com/stories/242628-nikkei-describes-kimishima-as-soft-and-friendly-wrong-to-run-the

And there are a bunch of other tweets by https://twitter.com/serkantoto relating to Kimishima.

The gist of it is that Kimishima is staying the course set by Iwata and will be Nintendo's steady hand at the wheel. The challenges Kimishima identifies are finding new projects, cultivating the right human resources for Nintendo-like profits, and establishing "a future-proof group leadership system inside Nintendo."

Given his, Miyamoto's, and Takeda's age, it is looking more likely that Kimishima's leadership will be a short one that focuses on raising younger executive, creative, and technical talent to be the next leaders of Nintendo.

[Khushrenada]

According to IGN, he's stating he'll only be president for a year. Guess we'll see if that really happens but it's looking a bit like Nintendo's Next Top Talent President Search is still just beginning until we get ourselves a winner crowned next year at the end of this year's TV season in the big season finale!

[Shaymin]

He signed a one year contract with the option for renewal next year, and the year after that, and so on.

Kimishima is the fifth President in the history of the company. They don't change that often.

[Luigi Dude]

From the looks of things, Shinya Takahashi is the man they want to set up as the next long term President.  For fucks sake they just combined EAD and SPD and put him in charge of all of it.  The man is basically responsible for most of Nintendo's studio's now so that's a pretty big promotion. 

That would explain why someone as old as Kimishima is the new president now with a one year contract that can keep being renewed each year.  Takahashi was probably the guy Iwata wanted to be his successor since he's been rising through the company pretty quickly the last few years but Iwata died before Takahashi was ready to take on the role.

Basically if Takahashi can successfully manage the newly merged EAD/SPD division he'll probably be president several years from now since his fast rise seem to be pointing to it.

[Enner]

http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Nintendo-taps-steady-hand-to-replace-charismatic-leader?page=1

The English version of the Nikkei article.

"(Kimishima) will work with the company's two top developers -- Genyo Takeda, 66, and "Super Mario Bros." creator Shigeru Miyamoto, 62 -- in what is expected to be a troika.

     Takeda, now in charge of game systems, will assume the newly created post of technology fellow. Miyamoto, who is in charge of software, will take up the new position of creative fellow.

     The move detaches the two general managers from day-to-day responsibilities so that they can focus on leading the company, pursuing reforms with the president. The new appointments take effect Wednesday."
- - -
"Kimishima was not the favorite among Iwata's possible successors. After Iwata died on July 11 at age 55, Nintendo had initially explored younger candidates among its employees, believing that the president of a game company must be in touch with youth, according to a senior official.

     But the screening process ran into hurdles due to the dearth of talent ready for the role. As the president's chair remained vacant for two months, preparations loomed for year-end sales -- the source of half of annual revenue.

     The pressing situation apparently pushed Nintendo to seek a leader with rich managerial experience for a smooth transition."
-----

The article is an interesting read. It helps define Nintendo's road ahead under Kimishima.

[Luigi Dude]

So yeah, it pretty much confirms up what many of us assumed.  The younger management (most likely Takahashi) that Iwata wanted to take his spot aren't ready for the job yet so they picked the old business man that can safety keep things moving before they're ready.