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Tatsumi Kimishima (JP) is the 5th President of Nintendo. He took Satoru Iwata's place as president after Iwata had passed away on July 11, 2015. Before he served as president of Nintendo, he helped Nintendo capitalize on the Pokémon craze in North America and ran Nintendo of America after Minoru Arakawa left. He retired on June 28, 2018, leaving Shuntaro Furukawa as the next President.

At just under three years, Kimishima's tenure was the shortest of any Nintendo President to date.

History[]

Prior to working at Nintendo, Kimishima worked Sanwa Bank of Japan for 27 years. At Sanwa Bank, Kimishima perform many corporate duties and held positions in numerous North American locations.

In 2000, Kimishima was selected to be the Chief Financial officer of the Pokémon Company. In his brief 2 year tenure, he helped market the Pokémon games, helping sell Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Pokémon Crystal to the Americas.

With the retirement of Minoru Arakawa, Hiroshi Yamauchi decide to select Kimishima as the next President of Nintendo of America. While Nintendo did lose a number of Western partners due to Arakawa's and Howard Lincoln's departures, Kimishima helped maintain Nintendo's marketshare in the Americas. He was promoted to the newly created CEO position in May 2006. In 2013, Kimishima returned to Japan, where his CEO position was replaced by Satoru Iwata and Kimishima becoming the Managing Director of Nintendo as well as a board member. Following the death of Satoru Iwata, he was selected to be promoted to the company's President in September 2015. He later hosted the Nintendo Switch presentation held on January 12, 2017; this marked the first Nintendo related event hosted by Kimishima.

After the General Meeting of Shareholders held on June 28, 2018, Tatsumi Kimishima officially stepped down as President of Nintendo, with Shuntaro Furukawa being appointed as his successor. Kimishima remains at Nintendo as an Executive Adviser.

Positions Held[]

  • Chief Financial Officer at The Pokémon Company (2000 - 2002)
  • Second President of Nintendo of America (2002 - 2006)
  • CEO of Nintendo of America (2006 - 2013)
  • Managing Director at Nintendo (2013 - 2015)
  • Fifth President of Nintendo (2015 - 2018)
  • Executive Adviser of Nintendo (2018 - present)

Game Works[]

Interviews[]

External links[]

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