Pikachu's old friend takes over the company

The very foundations of the video game world were shaken over the summer when Satoru Iwata passed away. The late Iwata-san had a hand in many of the video games we all played and loved and the gaming community came together to issue heart-felt farewells to the man who saved games like EarthBound and Pokémon Stadium. Ever since, Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda had been teaming up to keep Nintendo running while the board of directors searched for a replacement. That search has ended,as the board met this morning in Kyoto and announced that Tatsumi Kimishima will take the reins as Nintendo's president effective September 16.

Kimishima has held several positions within Nintendo over the years, serving as president of The Pokémon Company and as president of Nintendo of America for a few years before moving on to heading the Human Resources, General Affairs, and Corporate Analysis and Administration divisions. Unlike the late Mr. Iwata, Kimishima's expertise in the industry is entirely business related. Kimishima used that business experience to advise against shipping the Wii U console, fearing it would fail because it was too similar to the Wii. While it's hard to argue that 10 million units sold is a failure, the ailing system has had trouble maintaining third party support and has been remaining afloat largely because of first party and indie titles.

Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda have been named the company's Creative Fellow and Technology Fellow, respectively. These are new positions created by Kimishima that focus on sharing their expertise by providing advice and guidance to their respective areas of the company. The fellow positions honor the work Miyamoto and Takeda have done over the years for Nintendo The announcement officially describes a fellow as:

"Fellow: 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 (newly established on September 16, 2015)."

Welcome to the top of Nintendo, Tatsumi Kimishima. May your guidance allow Nintendo to continue to inspire and innovate.