Yesterday I gave three reasons why Shigeru Miyamoto should be Nintendo’s next president, but that doesn’t mean he’s the only man in the running for the position. In fact, Miyamoto is currently acting as interim president with one other man – Genyo Takeda. Perhaps an even more likely candidate than Miyamoto, Genyo Takeda joined Nintendo all the way back in 1972 and is one of their most senior members of staff. Takeda is currently the general manager of Nintendo’s integrated research division, a title he has held since the division was created in 1981. So he’s been around for a long time, but why should he be president? Well…

1. He’s An Innovator



For as long as Nintendo has been creating innovations in gaming, Takeda has been there. He and his research and development team are credited with creating the first battery back-up memory system to allow for saving in video games, starting with the original Legend of Zelda in 1986. Imagine video games without a saving mechanic nowadays? The battery supplied a lifelong power source for the RAM chip so that data could be maintained even once the power supply from the console was shut down. He is also credited with the invention of the N64’s analog stick, something that has been copied to nearly every console release ever since. The analog stick opened the doors into an era of 3-dimensional console gaming that could never have been possible with anything else. More recently, Takeda was one of the lead developers of the Wii console. He fought hard against the model of increasing graphical fidelity because he claimed that a model focused only on graphics is not an ideal model for the consumer. In an infamous interview with Satoru Iwata himself, Takeda stated “In development, we came to realize the sheer inefficiency of this path when we compared the hardships and costs of development against the new experiences customers might have”. That decision helped propel the Wii to be the best-selling console Nintendo has ever had.

2. He Has Corporate Experience



While Miyamoto has been a designer and director for the majority of his career, Takeda has been dealing with the corporate side of the business for a very long time. As the senior managing director for research and development, Takeda has been reporting to the board and managing the corporate business for a long time. Not only that, but he truly understands the hardware perhaps better than anyone else at Nintendo, having helped develop a majority of it. In that same interview with Iwata, Takeda made an incredibly memorable comparison of the gaming industry to the automotive industry, likening the Wii itself to a Hybrid car with a balance of power and practicality.

When we look at the automobile industry, not every car is following the same evolutionary course. While some are trying to make faster cars, others are gathering public attention around the world with their hybrid engines. If automobiles can be used a metaphor, our industry has always been trying to compete over horsepower, even though not all cars are made to compete in F1 races.

Takeda brings a balance of leadership and experience to a corporate role that virtually nobody else at Nintendo can bring, and that sort of experience could be exactly what the Big N needs in their next president.

3. He Can Propel Nintendo Forward Rather Than Be Stuck In The Past



Let’s face it – Nintendo’s console market share has had better days. The Wii U hasn’t sold nearly as well as the Wii, and there are already rumours of a new console coming from the company as early as 2016. The Wii U is largely heralded as a failure for a variety of reasons, but one of the main being it felt more like a minor upgrade to the Wii rather than a brand new console. When the Wii was being developed, Takeda was one of the main proponents of giving the console a massive UI overhaul and really turning it into its own system rather than just making it feel like a faster and more powerful Gamecube. He helped launch the system forward while many at Nintendo wanted it to just be a moderate upgrade. As a researcher and developer, Takeda has been pushing for innovation at a company seemingly stuck in the 1990s for his entire career. And that’s what Nintendo needs right now – a massive step forward into the future. It needs to be able to compete with existing consoles to at least some degree. The next console (code-named the Nintendo NX) should not just be a clone of the PS4 and Xbox One – it certainly needs its own identity, similar to the one the Wii had compared to the PS3 and Xbox 360 – but it should at the very least be able to compete with them in basic function. The biggest issue Nintendo faces is online functionality and accessibility in their games, and with Takeda being one of the major researchers of broadband and modem accessibility with the Gamecube, there’s nobody better at Nintendo suited for such a daunting task. While the Wii U was a step forward in this regard, the NX still has a lot of catching up to do. Nintendo’s biggest successes have been when they take the biggest risks and leaps forward in gaming, and Takeda could be the man to spearhead another big jump. The Wii was the company’s biggest console success, utilizing motion controls and opening gaming accessibility to lifelong gamers and non-gamers alike. Meanwhile, the DS was the company’s greatest handheld success, taking a risk on a second screen that many thought was purely a gimmick before they got their hands on the system itself and realized its full potential. What could the NX have in store for us? If Takeda has any say in it, something just as memorable as the above.

Takeda is a brilliant man that’s been with Nintendo longer than almost anyone else. If Nintendo chooses him as a new president, they will be showing that they really want to push forward into the future over the next several years and stop trying to play catch-up. It could be a vital step to the company’s long-term success.