Tatsumi Kimishima succeeds Satoru Iwata as President of Nintendo

[Nightmare]

You guys are making it sound like they're just gonna up and abandon all their practices and the video game industry. Here's a few things to take into consideration:

1) Although it was a better climate for video games (one that Nintendo itself had realised, in fact), it's not like Nintendo had absolutely no good games during Yamauchi's presidency, and like bookofholsety pointed out, he wasn't even into the whole thing like Iwata was.

2) Konami was a third-party developer and publisher of video games, and most of their franchises (with the exception of MGS) had fallen to the wayside and not become much more than niche series; Nintendo is enormous, and unless they fall on incredibly bad times, it's extremely unlikely they'll go the same way. Come on now, use a little bit of reasoning and common sense instead of giving in to this mass hysteria. It's embarrassing.

3) Not just Nintendo itself, but the entire video game industry, and games journalists, and even outside the industry itself (not to mention gamers everywhere), felt the impact of Iwata's death profoundly. It's very unlikely they're going to just quit/change a lot of Iwata's practices. Sure, they said they're gonna change things around, but it's not likely that they will just trample Iwata's legacy. They have to live up to it in the public's eyes. Even if they were cut-throat businessmen now, it's not likely they'd be stupid enough to do something like that.

EDIT: 4) A key point I forgot: Nintendo has always been the innovator. Back during Yamauchi's time, during Iwata's time, and hopefully in the future as well. They never aped anyone, but everyone aped them. If they weren't innovating, they were staying with tried and true practices. That they're going to give in to business practices other companies are giving in to is not much more than a fever dream.

Not saying they'll do incredibly and surpass Iwata or anything, but this pessimism is a little disrespectful. Perhaps understandable, but let's be a little more reasonable about it.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Nightmare

[Refa]

Nintendo as a company will be fine, I'm just more worried about Nintendo Direct and Iwata Asks (if they even bothered with a similar style of interviewing, although it'd be a real shame if they didn't).

[Elieson]

I don't think there will be many more Iwata Asks

[Tryhard]

I'm not quite sure about the implications of him "turning" Nintendo into Sony and Microsoft (who, at least from Sony's perspective, don't seem any more overly business focused then any other company) is a bad thing to begin with; regardless, it's unlikely as Nintendo generally want to do their own thing.

[The DanMan]

Something I just found:

"Under the new managerial structure, Miyamoto will be known officially as the company’s “creative fellow,” while Takeda will be its “technology fellow.” A fellow, as defined by Nintendo, is “an individual selected from among the Representative Directors who has advanced knowledge and extensive experience, and holds the role of providing advice and guidance regarding organizational operations in a specialized area.”"

From: http://time.com/4033911/nintendo-president-tatsumi-kimishima/

Looks like the wing-men theory was correct.

[ClevelandSteve]

Miyamoto should take over "Iwata Asks" if they decide to continue them (obviously renaming them "Miyamoto Asks"). However, I'm pretty sure they'll just be gone now. As for Directs, those may or may not be gone too (over the last few months, we've kinda just been getting new news about Nintendo games at random. That may just be due to them restructuring, or it could be the way things will be in the future). If Nintendo Directs continue, they might have region-specific hosts from now on (like, for example, Reggie for America). Kimishima obviously must be pretty fluent in English since he ran NoA for awhile and iirc still has a home in the US (and a daughter living in New York), but his "stuffy businessman" demeanor might make it better for him to just stay behind the scenes unless we're all completely wrong about him and he's able to lighten up.

[Anacybele]

No Nintendo Directs? That would just suck! I hope they don't stop those. Taking them away, AND taking away Iwata Asks would take away so much of what Iwata poured into this company!

[Elieson]

No Nintendo Directs?

IGN interviews say otherwise

[Knife]

Nintendo is actually losing because the competition is better.

This current gen of systems sickens me though, including the Wii U.

[Crusticus]

Guys, Nintendo Directs are confirmed to come back! (source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/09/15/nintendo-directs-will-continue )

edit: didn't see above post by Elieson. Derp. WELL STILL.

I wonder if Kimishima himself will take Iwata's role in the directs.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Theguru1020

[Loki Laufeyson]

You guys are making it sound like they're just gonna up and abandon all their practices and the video game industry. Here's a few things to take into consideration:

1) Although it was a better climate for video games (one that Nintendo itself had realised, in fact), it's not like Nintendo had absolutely no good games during Yamauchi's presidency, and like bookofholsety pointed out, he wasn't even into the whole thing like Iwata was.

2) Konami was a third-party developer and publisher of video games, and most of their franchises (with the exception of MGS) had fallen to the wayside and not become much more than niche series; Nintendo is enormous, and unless they fall on incredibly bad times, it's extremely unlikely they'll go the same way. Come on now, use a little bit of reasoning and common sense instead of giving in to this mass hysteria. It's embarrassing.

3) Not just Nintendo itself, but the entire video game industry, and games journalists, and even outside the industry itself (not to mention gamers everywhere), felt the impact of Iwata's death profoundly. It's very unlikely they're going to just quit/change a lot of Iwata's practices. Sure, they said they're gonna change things around, but it's not likely that they will just trample Iwata's legacy. They have to live up to it in the public's eyes. Even if they were cut-throat businessmen now, it's not likely they'd be stupid enough to do something like that.

EDIT: 4) A key point I forgot: Nintendo has always been the innovator. Back during Yamauchi's time, during Iwata's time, and hopefully in the future as well. They never aped anyone, but everyone aped them. If they weren't innovating, they were staying with tried and true practices. That they're going to give in to business practices other companies are giving in to is not much more than a fever dream.

Not saying they'll do incredibly and surpass Iwata or anything, but this pessimism is a little disrespectful. Perhaps understandable, but let's be a little more reasonable about it.

*claps* Yeah pretty much. I also feel like Pokemon Go may be this guy's claim to fame. It was in development for a while, but the final push? :B

I don't think there will be many more Iwata Asks

Directs will be coming back. They are too popular. It'll likely be just NoA/NoE guys doing it from now on. (id love to see Miyamoto Moments tho)

This guy was lord of NoA for a while. This guy knows what the western audience is after. This guy also was lord of the Pokemon Company branch. Even if he is a placeholder, i think he will be an ok fit.

Something I just found:

"Under the new managerial structure, Miyamoto will be known officially as the company’s “creative fellow,” while Takeda will be its “technology fellow.” A fellow, as defined by Nintendo, is “an individual selected from among the Representative Directors who has advanced knowledge and extensive experience, and holds the role of providing advice and guidance regarding organizational operations in a specialized area.”"

From: http://time.com/4033911/nintendo-president-tatsumi-kimishima/

Looks like the wing-men theory was correct.

Does this mean that a Team is pretty much going to be running the show here? Im unsure what this entails.

Also Kimishima's face is a gold mine.

Devs: "How about a sequel to Other M?"

More Devs: "Let's lay off Kirby games, eh?"

Devs: "Dual releases of the newest Zelda game on Wii U and NX!! YEAH!!!"

Kimishima:

"No."

[Anacybele]

Good, stopping Nintendo Directs would be one of the worst decisions Nintendo could make. Glad they're not going anywhere. But I'm okay with regional reps doing them, I mean, Reggie is the bomb. <3

Kimishima doesn't look as...well, charming as Iwata, he looks more serious. lol But in a funny way as Florina put it. :P

[Crusticus]

The first thing I thought about when I saw him was that poker face. I see it as somewhat glorious.

Now that I think about it, maybe they'll have Trinen play a larger role in the directs. He was great with the Tomodachi Life one, and he can speak both fluent English and Japanese.

[Jave]

Kimishima was CEO of NoA when FE7 came out, so he was likely partially responsible for Fire Emblem getting released in the West.

[PelicanOfDeath]

I believe Kimishima will work on moving many units quickly, while Sakurai and Miyamoto will make games. I feel that would be the best setup. I do hope, however, that Nintendo starts breaking into E3 soon.

[DarthMikey]

The selection of Miyamoto and Takeda as "creative" and "technology" fellows interests me. Does this mean that in terms of leadership they are basically going to split up responsibilities? (I.e.; Kimishima heads up business growth and finances, Miyamoto handles game design, and Takeda directs hardware development.) Fellow doesn't exactly have the same connotation as director or executive, so I could be wrong, but I think it would be a good idea considering their different backgrounds. The only problem it could cause is a lack of definitive direction.

[Sentacotus]

The selection of Miyamoto and Takeda as "creative" and "technology" fellows interests me. Does this mean that in terms of leadership they are basically going to split up responsibilities? (I.e.; Kimishima heads up business growth and finances, Miyamoto handles game design, and Takeda directs hardware development.) Fellow doesn't exactly have the same connotation as director or executive, so I could be wrong, but I think it would be a good idea considering their different backgrounds. The only problem it could cause is a lack of definitive direction.

Wouldn't suprise me but to me that's kinda how its always been from the start. Its just what Presidents of big companies do. I think what's interesting is how he supposedly was against the Wii U because it was too similar to the Wii and thought (correctly in alot of ways) it would be a commericial failure.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2015/09/15/new-president-of-nintendo-thought-the-wii-u-would-fail/