Tatsumi Kimishima

Tatsumi Kimishima (君島 達己 Kimishima Tatsumi) is the Managing Director of Nintendo Co., Ltd. He was the president of Nintendo of America from January 2002,[1] succeeding Minoru Arakawa, until May 2006, when Reggie Fils-Aime took his place.[2] He was promoted to Managing Director of Nintendo Co., Ltd. on April 2013.[3]

Personal life

Kimishima is married with two adult daughters.[4] One of his daughters lives in New York while the other lives in Japan. Kimishima's daughter that lives in Japan works at the Japan Credit Bureau.[4] Kimishima enjoys outdoor summer activities, his favourite of which includes golf and tennis.[4] Currently Kimishima lives in Redmond, Washington, and is 62 years of age.[5]

Employment

Sanwa Bank of Japan

Kimishima worked for 27 years for Sanwa Bank of Japan. Kimishima dealt with corporate planning, international business development, corporate communications and promotions.

Postings

Kimishima was posted in the following locations during his 27 year tenure at Sanwa Bank of Japan:

Nintendo

The Pokémon Company

Tatsumi Kimishima was the Pokémon Company's Chief Financial Officer. He was appointed in 2000.

Pokémon USA Inc.

In 2001, Kimishima was appointed president of Pokémon USA Inc.

Pokémon Games

During Kimishima's time working at Pokémon USA Inc. from 2000 to 2002 there was a release of popular Pokémon games that found their ways onto the market and into the homes of consumers. On October 15, 2000 in North America Pokémon Gold and Silver were both released on the Game Boy Color.[6] The Pokémon game known as Pokémon Crystal was released on July 29, 2001 also for the Game Boy Colour.[7]

Nintendo's Shuffling of Executive Staff

After the release of the GameCube in 2001, President of Nintendo since 1949, Hiroshi Yamauchi felt that it was the right time to step down from his position.[8] His son-in-law, Minoru Arakawa, took over the role as President of Nintendo in America but retired only one year later in 2002.[8] Nintendo, after the release of the GameCube, found themselves in third place to Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox in relation to sales.[8] Some would even consider the introduction of this new gaming platform as a failure, especially when compared to Nintendo's dominance in the late 80's and early 90's.[8] Yamauchi appointed Tatsumi Kimishima to become President of Nintendo of America in 2002.[8] He was previously working as the head of Nintendo's Pokémon division. Four years after Kimishima's promotion he was promoted again, but this time to the position of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.[8] Kimishima still watches over the management of Nintendo of America to ensure continued success of the company. He serves on the boards of Nintendo of America and Nintendo Company Ltd.[9]

Time at Nintendo 2002-Present

After the GameCube's release it was a struggle for Nintendo to create something new and innovative. Many gamers were worried about Nintendo slipping, thinking that the company now only made games for children excluding the hard core gamers that the company had possessed once before.[8] However, this negative attitude didn't stop the company and under Kimishima's leadership Nintendo achieved great success after the release of the Nintendo Wii in November 2006.[8] The company was gearing up for the holiday shopping season and the Nintendo Wii's were quickly sold out around the world.[8] As of September 2012, the Nintendo Wii had put Nintendo back on top in the video game world due to total units sold amounting to 97.18 million.[8] At this time, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 possessed similar sales of 70 millions units sold.[8] Under Kimishima's leadership the company was able to relive the success that it had in the late 80's and early 90's. On April 2013 he was promoted to Managing Director of Nintendo Co., Ltd., and Satoru Iwata took his place as CEO of Nintendo of America.

Games Credited

Tatsumi Kimishima has been credited in a number of video games produced by Nintendo.[10] Some of the most notable games include: Mario Party 5,[10] Mario Party 6,[10] Mario Party 7,[10] Mario Party 8 [10] Mario Golf Advanced Tour,[10] Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour,[10] and Metroid Prime.[10] Kimishima has also been given special thanks on video games he has been involved in which includes various Wario and Metroid games.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Nintendo of America Inc. President Minoru Arakawa Announces His Retirement". Retrieved 22 May 2011.
  2. ↑ "Reggie for President". Retrieved 22 May 2011.
  3. ↑ "Nintendo Co., Ltd. announces promotion of NoA chairman Tatsumi Kimishima to NCL managing director". Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Tatsumi Kimishima". N-Sider. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Tatsumi Kimishima". People Finders. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Pokémon Gold and Silver Versions". Pokémon. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Pokémon Crystal Version". Pokémon. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9 8.10 Rubin, Brian P. "All Your History: Nintendo Part 6 - Wiidemption". Inside Gaming Daily. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Tatsumi Kimishima About This Person". IGN. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 "Tatsumi Kimishima". Moby Games. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Tatsumi Kimishima". IMDb. Retrieved April 3, 2013.

External links