8Bit/Digi

Following the conclusion of the 78th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in Kyoto, Shuntaro Furukawa has succeeded Tatsumi Kimishima as President of Nintendo.

News of the change in leadership was first made back in April when Kimishima announced his retirement. The transition was completed on June 28th when the roles was officially passed on to Furukawa.

Following the transition, Furukawa made available a letter to investors sharing his vision and plans for the future. His vision will be focused on making it more accessible for consumers to enjoy Nintendo’s intellectual properties by creating accessible experiences. He even stated in the letter,

“We want to continue being a company that creates entertainment to bring smiles to people’s faces. We also want to expand the number of people who have access to Nintendo IP; in other words, we want more people to have access to the characters and worlds from games created by Nintendo, and thereby raise the corporate value of our business.”

In the same letter, he further added,

“Nintendo will continue to flexibly transform itself by adapting to changing times while constantly valuing the spirit of originality based on the belief that “the true value of entertainment lies in its uniqueness” – and we will continue to provide products and services that surprise and delight consumers.”

Furukawa joined Nintendo as an accountant in 1994 and rose to become director of The Pokémon Company. Prior to taking the top position, his work at the company has been highly praised by the leadership (including Kimishima) and the gaming industry.

Kimishima was made president of Nintendo back in 2015 following the death of Satoru Iwata. Under his leadership, Nintendo brought several of their iconic franchises to the mobile device and successful launched the Switch. Prior to taking the leadership role, he was president of Nintendo of America and was heavily involved with The Pokémon Company.

8Bit/Digi is an independent media outlet that provides an insight into the gaming community and industry of the Bay Area.