New president of Nintendo Tatsumi Kimishima, as announced earlier today, is taking the reigns of the game company in the middle of the Wii U era and its problems, the latter of which Kimishima predicted prior to the release of the console.
In an interview in Nikkei, a Japanese publication, Kimishima revealed a number of details regarding his new leadership role, Nintendo’s future plans, and his original thoughts about the Wii U.
Kimishima’s personality is described as “soft and friendly” and stated that he is “elected for 1 year and doesn’t know what will come next.” He was apparently Iwata’s first choice as a successor, though Nintendo was reportedly first looking for someone younger, but didn’t have the appropriate candidate to fulfill the position. Kimishima added that Iwata “didn’t give him instructions on how to run the company.”
He adds there aren’t currently planned changes to in the strategy setup by previous President Iwata and that the current challenge is to “identify new projects and cultivate the right human resources to reach Nintendo-like profits again.”
The same article states that Kimishima predicted the Wii U’s failure when it was initially introduced by arguing that it was too similar to the Wii.
For the future, Kimishima was quoted saying Nintendo’s smartphone plans will not change.