Iwata to be become NoA CEO . . . and other news

[Da Robot]

Just newly announced from a Nintendo press release . . .

NINTENDO CO., LTD. ANNOUNCES PROMOTION OF NOA CHAIRMAN TATSUMI KIMISHIMA TO NCL MANAGING DIRECTOR

Led Nintendo of America Since 2002

REDMOND, Wash., April 24, 2013 – Nintendo Co., Ltd. (NCL) today announced a planned promotion for Tatsumi Kimishima, current chairman and CEO of Nintendo of America (NOA) and a director of its parent Nintendo Co., Ltd. Subject to shareholder approval, he will become NCL managing director, and transfer from NOA in Redmond, Wash., to NCL headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. In his new position, he will assume the roles of general manager of Corporate Analysis and Administration, and general manager of the General Affairs Division. These titles are currently held by Yoshihiro Mori and Masaharu Matsumoto respectively, both of whom are retiring. Kimishima will assume his new duties in Kyoto later this summer.

Kimishima was named to his current position at NOA in 2006. He first joined Nintendo in Japan in 2000, and was subsequently named president of Pokémon USA in 2001, before moving on to become president of the Nintendo of America subsidiary in 2002. Previously, he spent 27 years at Sanwa Bank of Japan, with multiple postings in North America and Central America.

Many of his current responsibilities, including the CEO title, will be assumed by Global President Satoru Iwata. The move will support the company’s unified global strategy, allow streamlined decision making and enhance Nintendo's organizational agility in the current competitive environment. Reggie Fils-Aime will continue in his role as president and COO of NOA, reporting to Iwata.

Other changes announced to Nintendo’s global board of directors can be found at www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/.


(Reggie is still in his position at NoA, it's just that Iwata has a bigger role).


Also the Wii U missed it target shipment of 4 million by only selling 3.45 million by March 31st. (And originally it's target was turned from 5 million to 4 million).

www.joystiq.com/2013/04/24/wii-u-shipments-miss-targets-at-3-45m-fy14-forecasts-of-9m/


Also announced that production of the Nintendo DS will stop this year.


. . . And so the NDS gracefully "scallops" away into the sunset . . .

. . . You did your job and you did it well . . .

[nocturnal YL]

Doesn't sound like a huge change for us. Reggie has to report to Iwata in some way anyway.

3DS is catching up, so it's about time to retire the old DS series. DS Lite was especially long-living, as it does nothing more than the original and is still being in production now.

As for Wii U, we're still waiting for more games. I want at least a 3D Mario and a few decent titles from other franchises. Anything less won't sell Wii U to me. (Having Kirby or FE titles would also instantly sell the system to me, but one of them is known for its lateness to new systems, and the other is currently too obsessed in selling the current game.)

[Leon]

Iwata taking charge of NoA could actually be a good thing. With NCL and NoA on the same page, we may see more consistency in releases like NoE is having right now.

[Nester the Lark]

I kinda feel like the North American branches of Japanese publishers genuinely want to cater to the fans, and are probably made up of fans, themselves, but their hands are often tied by the Japanese parent companies.

Case in point, look at Capcom. The Japanese side gives us Resident Evil 6, Street Fighter x Tekken, and endless money-milking updates to Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs. Capcom 3. On the other hand, Capcom USA can be credited for DuckTales Ramastered, the digital re-releases of the Dungeons & Dragons arcade games, and working out the licensing nightmare that was Tatsunoko vs Capcom for international release, all because fans asked for them.

NCL seems to be notoriously strict with NoA anyway (see Operation Rainfall, the Earthbound on VC debacle, etc.), so I'm not sure if having Iwata directly in charge would necessarily change much.

On the other hand, Sega's Japanese and American branches have always been very loose, and even in bitter competition with each other, and that's probably one of the reasons Sega always seems to be in trouble. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

There's got to be a happy medium in there somewhere.

[Leon]

I think the notion of NoA having no or very little autonomy is exaggerated. NoA is generally left to their own devices, except when NCL has big plans for games like Brain Age, or publishing Dragon Quest overseas. Games like GTA: China Town Wars, Lego City: Undercover, and Fluidity are all on NoA. When companies like Monster Games or Next Level have a pitch, they talk with NoA, not Japan.

Of course, NoA also does other things like deciding that Disaster: Day of Crisis, "Is not worth $50", ignoring the Band Bros. series and a ton of other titles.

So I'm willing to give NCL a bigger hand in controlling NoA. NoE has been on a roll for a few years now, and I want NoA to make the same headway. The first step has been that NoA and NoE both confirmed X and Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, so for that I am satisfied.

[nocturnal YL]

I have lost faith in NoA since a good while ago. They've been, for some reason, hating Japan. This has changed since a while ago, and they're generally more willing to publish Japanese-styled games. But with things seen here and there (like the FE13 voice bug and the same game's non-announcement of updates and DLC in their website), it looks to me that they're still half-hearted at it. So I'd say yes to giving NCL direct control over it.

There are things I don't like about NoE too, for reasons other than Japan-hating. That's another day's story.