Tatsumi Kimishima

Tatsumi Kimishima (君島 達己, Kimishima Tatsumi, born April 21, 1950, in Tokyo) is a Japanese businessman and a former president of Nintendo. He was formerly the president of Nintendo of America from January 2002,[1] succeeding Minoru Arakawa, until Reggie Fils-Aimé took his place in May 2006.[2] He was promoted to managing director in June 2013[1] and was named the fifth president of the company in September 2015, succeeding Satoru Iwata, who died in July 2015.[3][4] In June 2018, Kimishima stepped down as president and was succeeded by Shuntaro Furukawa.[5]

Tatsumi Kimishima
君島 達己
5th President of Nintendo
In office September 16, 2015 – June 28, 2018
Preceded by	Satoru Iwata
Succeeded by	Shuntaro Furukawa
Personal details
Born	(1950-04-21) April 21, 1950 Tokyo, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Alma mater	Hitotsubashi University

Career

Sanwa Bank

After graduating from Hitotsubashi University, Kimishima joined Sanwa Bank in 1973, working there for 27 years.[6] Kimishima dealt with corporate planning, international business development, corporate communications, and promotions.

During his 27-year tenure at Sanwa Bank, Kimishima was posted in New York, New York, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA; San Francisco, California, USA; Central America; and the Caribbean.[7]

Pokémon

Kimishima was approached by Hiroshi Yamauchi, who wanted someone outside of the video game industry to oversee the finances of an American subsidiary for the popular Pokémon franchise.[8] Kimishima accepted the position, and was appointed chief financial officer of The Pokémon Company in December 2000.[9][10] In 2001, Kimishima was appointed president of Pokémon USA Inc.[7] During Kimishima's early time working there, a number of popular Pokémon games were released.[11][12]

Nintendo

After the release of the GameCube in 2001, president of Nintendo since 1949, Yamauchi felt that it was the right time to step down from his position.[13] His son-in-law, Minoru Arakawa, took over the role as president of Nintendo in America, but retired only one year later in 2002.[13] Yamauchi appointed Tatsumi Kimishima to become president of Nintendo of America in January 2002.[10][14] He was previously working as the head of Nintendo's Pokémon division. Four years after Kimishima's promotion he was promoted again, but this time to the position of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.[13] In April 2013, Kimishima was promoted to Managing Director of Nintendo Co., Ltd., and Satoru Iwata took his place as chief executive officer of Nintendo of America.

President

On September 14, 2015, after the death of Iwata in July 2015, Kimishima was named company president of Nintendo.[15] Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda were also put into senior advisory roles as "Creative Fellow" and "Technology Fellow", respectively.[10] Kimishima described his desire to follow Iwata's general strategy, stating that "Takeda and Miyamoto will be in charge of software development, while I control administration".[16] In May 2016, Kimishima announced that Nintendo were going to start their own film production, and that they were looking for filmmakers for their projects.[17] As President of Nintendo, Kimishima also oversaw the launch of the Nintendo Switch, and appeared in the 2017 Nintendo Switch Presentation.[18] In April 2018, Nintendo announced that Kimishima would be stepping down as president on June 28, 2018, being succeeded by Shuntaro Furukawa.[19][20]

References

1. "Wayback Machine" (PDF). 2015-09-14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-14. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
2. "Reggie for President". Retrieved May 22, 2011.
3. "Notice Regarding Personnel Change of a Representative Director and Role Changes of Directors" (PDF). Nintendo. September 14, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 14, 2015.
4. "Yahoo". Yahoo. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
5. Nintendo President Explains Why He's Stepping Down - IGN, retrieved 2020-03-31
6. "Nintendo names new president after Iwata death". The Japan Times Online. 2015-09-14. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 2019-07-06.
7. "5 Reasons Why Tatsumi Kimishima is Good for Nintendo". USgamer.net. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
8. Peckham, Matt (2015-12-03). "Exclusive: Nintendo's New President on the Icon's Future". Time. Retrieved 2019-07-06.
9. Byford, Sam (2015-09-14). "Nintendo's New President Is Tatsumi Kimishima". Vox. Retrieved 2019-07-06.
10. Sarkar, Samit (2015-09-14). "Nintendo appoints a new president amid corporate reorganization". Polygon. Retrieved 2019-07-06.
11. "Pokémon Gold and Silver Versions". Pokémon. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
12. "Pokémon Crystal Version". Pokémon. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
13. Rubin, Brian P. "All Your History: Nintendo Part 6 - Wiidemption". Inside Gaming Daily. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
14. Morris, Chris (2002-01-09). "Two key executives depart Nintendo". money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2019-07-06.
15. "Notice Regarding Personnel Change of a Representative Director and Role Changes of Directors" (PDF) (Press release). Nintendo Co., Ltd. 2015-09-14.
16. Schilling, Mark (2015-09-14). "Rebounding Nintendo Appoints Tatsumi Kimishima as President". Variety. Retrieved 2019-07-06.
17. Kageyama, Yuri (May 15, 2016). "Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co. is eyeing the movie business for growth". US News.
18. "Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017". YouTube. Nintendo of America. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
19. Morris, Chris. "Nintendo's New President Marks Start of New Dynasty". Fortune.com. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
20. Ashcraft, Brian. "Nintendo Is Getting A New President". Kotaku. Retrieved 2018-07-15.

Business positions
Preceded by Minoru Arakawa	President of Nintendo of America 2002 – 2006	Succeeded by Reggie Fils-Aimé