Nintendo announced on Monday that Tatsumi Kimishima, 65, is the new president for the company. He is replacing former President Satoru Iwata, who died of cancer in July.
Kimishima has been the head of Nintendo's human resources department since June 2014, but has been serving the Japanese company in different roles since 2002. He is known for leading U.S. operations and overseeing the launch of one of Nintendo's bestsellers, the Wii console.
Nintendo engineers Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto managed the company while waiting for the appointment of the new president. They will remain as representative directors who will work with Kimishima to continue the company's venture into mobile gaming.
As HNGN previously reported, Nintendo will be releasing its first mobile game this year and four more in 2017.
"The basic direction and strategy won't change," Kimishima said in a statement, quoted by Bloomberg. "I will continue along the path set by President Iwata."
Many might be wondering why Nintendo is choosing an even older president who won't be with the company for long. Even Iwata wasn't convinced that Kimishima was a good replacement due to his age, but he failed to find a younger replacement before he died.
"Nintendo right now is at a crossroads," gaming analyst Serkan Toto told VentureBeat. "In this situation, it would not have made sense to appoint a young and fresh inexperienced leader just for the sake of going for a bolder solutions. So I think the [triumvirate] is a good solution to steer Nintendo through the immediate future as laid out by Iwata before his tragic passing."
Another analyst described the appointment as a "safe" choice. Some thought that the new president would be one of the engineers. "(Kimishima) is a safe choice to continue on the path set by Iwata," Hideki Yasuda, an analyst with Ace Research Institute, said to Reuters. "He will be in charge of management, while Takeda and Miyamoto will be responsible for the gaming hardware and software businesses."
Although Kimishima promised to continue Iwata's plans for the company, it is expected that there will be changes. Iwata is a gamer by heart and has a strong background in gaming while Kimishima is more on the business side who has extensive knowledge of the U.S. and Japanese markets.
