Nintendo has promoted Tatsumi Kimishima, 65, to the position of company president. The unlikely promotion of Kimishima, who was formerly the company's head of human resources, follows the death of Satoru Iwata, who passed away in July aged just 55. Wii architect Genyo Takeda and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, the latter of which was widely tipped to take on the role, had been serving as caretaker leaders in the interim.

While Kimishima's promotion might come as something of a surprise, he has held several high-profile positions at Nintendo. In 2000 he was hired as CFO of The Pokémon Company, before serving as president of Nintendo of America between 2002 and 2006 following the release of the poorly received GameCube in 2001. Kimishima also played an instrumental role in the Wii's stateside success.

That said, unlike Iwata, Kimishima does not come from a technical or developer background. Part of the reason Iwata was so loved by those inside and outside of the company was because of his love of games and his keen understanding of what made them tick. "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer," Iwata famously said.

Miyamoto and Takeda have had promotions of their own, too. Takeda, who has been leading Nintendo's hardware efforts, has been named Technology Fellow, while Miyamoto is now Creative Fellow. A Fellow, as Nintendo describes it, 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."

Kimishima takes on the role of president as Nintendo goes through one of the biggest changes in its history. The company is branching out into mobile games with projects like Pokémon Go, while it also gears up to launch the NX console, the mysterious follow-up to the not-so-successful Wii U.