Tatsumi Kimishima nuovo presidente Nintendo

[Bluforce]

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2015/150914e.pdf

Takeda "Technology Fellow"
Miyamoto "Creative Fellow"

Dettagli:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1111691

[Turrican3]

Hmm...
Mi domando se sia davvero una scelta a lungo termine oppure una pezza, nell'attesa di trovare un "vero" sostituto di Iwata.

Certo è che dal curriculum pre-Nintendo pare un tradizionale uomo d'affari: ha studiato legge e lavorato nel settore bancario.
Se davvero deve star lì a lungo mi auguro abbia le idee chiare, se non sul da farsi quantomeno sulle persone cui riporre fiducia ludicamente parlando.

Vedremo.

[Bluforce]

E' una scelta di discontinuità rispetto ad Iwata, fosse anche solo come personalità. Ma un'altra personalità come Iwata dove la trovi? Reggie? Non credo vedremo mai una Nintendo guidata da uno straniero.

Peraltro Kimishima era a capo di NoA ai tempi del GC. 

[Turrican3]

Eh sì, pescare uno come Iwata non è esattamente semplice.
Per Reggie, a prescindere dal discorso nazionalità, vale lo stesso discorso di 'sto Kimishima, ovvero è sempre un "normale" uomo d'affari.

Ad ogni modo guardando il pdf non ho capito se questi ruoli di "fellow" siano una sorta di prepensionamento per Takeda e soprattutto Miyamoto oppure una mera questione formale (e dopotutto, sono anni che il Miya lascia ventilare più o meno apertamente la voglia di farsi un po' da parte).

La descrizione riportata, con tanto di asterisco (Fellow: An individual selected from among the Representative Directors who has advanced knowledge and extensive experience, and holds the role of providing advice and guidance regarding organizational operations in a specialized area) a naso parrebbe indicare la prima che ho detto.

Non solo: questi ruoli in precedenza non esistevano.
Al che mi domando se per caso non si tratti di un segnale, neppure troppo velato, di un rimescolamento di carte in atto nel CdA dell'azienda.

Purtroppo ricordo soltanto di aver letto qualche tempo fa su GAF che Iwata aveva piazzato nel board sostanzialmente tutte persone a lui vicine (e quindi verrebbe spontaneo dubitare che possano aver messo in piedi un voltafaccia totale-globale, nonostante la sua prematura dipartita) però non sono a conoscenza di dettagli approfonditi di tutta questa gente, magari stasera vedo di scorrere il thread indicato alla ricerca di informazioni da parte di utenti bene informati sugli affari interni di Nintendo...

[Turrican3]

Ok ho dato una letturina al thread su GAF, sembra che io ci abbia preso a metà: la faccenda del Fellow l'ho proprio cannata, in quanto pare sia un appellativo tutt'altro che banale / di second'ordine, mentre invece sono in molti a ritenere che effettivamente per Miyamoto e Takeda possa trattarsi dell'anticamera della pensione.

Le prime dichiarazioni da presidente di Kimishima, Nikkei via GAF:

1) The Nikkei quotes new Nintendo boss Kimishima as saying there won't be changes in the basic strategy set up by former president Iwata.
2) Kimishima says the challenge is now to identify new projects+cultivate the right human resources to reach Nintendo-like profits again.
3) The Nikkei also quotes Nintendo's Genyo Takeda as saying the aim is to establish a future-proof group leadership system inside Nintendo.

sembrano essere all'insegna della continuità con l'operato di Iwata, ma direi che è anche abbastanza ovvio: se NX è in dirittura d'arrivo (2016?) sarebbe complicato stravolgere tutto last-minute.

Last but definitely not least, non è chiaro se EAD ed SPD siano state formalmente fuse in un'unica divisione (si evincerebbe dal pdf) sotto la guida di Shinya Takahashi, che a detta dei bene informati si starebbe facendo prepotentemente strada nelle gerarchie di Nintendo e potrebbe un domani diventare un nuovo CEO "alla Iwata".

[Turrican3]

Ancora traduzioni/sintesi dal Nikkei sull'elezione di Kimishima (via Twitter, il medesimo di cui sopra per inciso)

1) In an interview with the Nikkei today, new Nintendo president Kimishima says Iwata didn't give him instructions how to run the company.
2) He says he is elected for 1 year and doesn't know what will come next. Says he is not against company outsiders to lead Nintendo one day.
3) Kimishima also confirms that Nintendo's smartphone and IP-related plans won't change. Says the task is now to develop new businesses.

1) In yet another Nikkei article (last I summarize/translate), new Nintendo boss Kimishima's personality is described as "soft+friendly".
2) According to the Nikkei, Kimishima predicted Wii U's failure when it was introduced by warning it's too similar to the original Wii.
3) Despite his business background, he is quoted as saying it's wrong to lead a gaming company on numbers alone.
4) The Nikkei claims Kimishima wasn't Iwata's favorite choice. Nintendo was 1st looking for somebody younger but didn't have the personnel.
5) The article also suggests the troika was a rushed decision because the holiday season, where Nintendo makes 50%+ of sales, is near.
6) Accordingly, Kimishima is quoted as saying one task for him will be to develop the next group leadership structure for Nintendo. /end

[Turrican3]

Establishment of the Entertainment Planning & Development Division
We will integrate personnel who are involved in the development of software for Nintendo platforms and smart devices in addition to work associated with effective utilization of character IP, and in order to create a structure that operates efficiently and rapidly, the Entertainment Analysis & Development Division and the Software Planning & Development Division will be consolidated into the newly established Entertainment Planning & Development Division.

Establishment of the Platform Technology Development Division
We will integrate personnel responsible for the technology development essential for Nintendo’s hardware formation such as hardware, OS, development environment and network, and in order to create a structure in which we can more broadly and efficiently conduct technology development necessary for new products and services, the Integrated Research & Development Division and the System Development Division will be consolidated into the newly established Platform Technology Development Division.

Establishment of the Business Development Division
We will newly establish the Business Development Division, a division with the aim of refining the business model for the dedicated video game system business, and creating and making profitable the smart device business and the new business that utilizes character IP.

http://kotaku.com/some-inside-baseball-for-nintendo-fans-as-ead-transform-1730630975

Ufficiale, dalla "fusione" della storica EAD e SPD nasce Entertainment Planning & Development Division, guidata da Shinya Takahashi.
Ci sono ulteriori novità nella struttura dell'azienda ma questa è quella sicuramente che fa più notizia dato che riguarda i team responsabili della quasi totalità delle IP storiche di Nintendo.

[Turrican3]

Nintendo taps steady hand to replace charismatic leader

OSAKA -- Nintendo has chosen a veteran officer to succeed iconic late President Satoru Iwata, hoping that a smooth transition will put the company back on a growth track in the fast-changing game industry.

"We will steadfastly carry out the new projects" as Iwata had instructed, said Tatsumi Kimishima, managing director, in a news conference Monday.
[...] He will work with the company's two top developers -- Genyo Takeda, 66, and "Super Mario Bros." creator Shigeru Miyamoto, 62 -- in what is expected to be a troika.

Takeda, now in charge of game systems, will assume the newly created post of technology fellow. Miyamoto, who is in charge of software, will take up the new position of creative fellow.
The move detaches the two general managers from day-to-day responsibilities so that they can focus on leading the company, pursuing reforms with the president. The new appointments take effect Wednesday.

Telling it like it is
[...] Known for a soft, friendly demeanor, Kimishima has no experience developing games and acknowledges being a weak player. But employees have always revered his straight talk.

[...] Kimishima correctly predicted at the Wii U's launch that the product would fail because it was too much like the original Wii.
[...] Kimishima is an expert in business management but also believes that the game company "must not be run by numbers alone."

"We always challenge ourselves to create exciting products -- that's Nintendo's DNA," he said in the news conference.

The next generation
Kimishima was not the favorite among Iwata's possible successors. After Iwata died on July 11 at age 55, Nintendo had initially explored younger candidates among its employees, believing that the president of a game company must be in touch with youth, according to a senior official.

But the screening process ran into hurdles due to the dearth of talent ready for the role. As the president's chair remained vacant for two months, preparations loomed for year-end sales -- the source of half of annual revenue.

The pressing situation apparently pushed Nintendo to seek a leader with rich managerial experience for a smooth transition.
Nintendo also plans to strengthen training of its younger generation through greater delegation of authority. For example, software development will be overseen by Shinya Takahashi, 51, a general manager who could be considered a future candidate for president. Kimishima has also mentioned the possibility of tapping someone from the outside.

Nintendo returned to the black for the first time in four years in fiscal 2014. As Yamauchi once said, games are an unpredictable business. Even industry veterans have trouble foreseeing which ideas will prove hits.
The quiet Kimishima has been the object of growing hopes for a revival.

"He does not have flash but inspires a sense of stability," an industry source said.

http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Nintendo-taps-steady-hand-to-replace-charismatic-leader?page=1

L'articolo del Nikkei citato, adesso disponibile in inglese.
Fondamentalmente conferma pienamente l'accuratezza dei tweet riportati precedentemente.

[Turrican3]

[RUMOUR]
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-09-17-nintendos-new-boss-faces-the-most-pivotal-year-in-the-companys-history
http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1114247

Circolano voci secondo cui Akihiro Hino di Level5 potesse essere figura individuata da Iwata come suo possibile successore alla guida di Nintendo.

======================

Francamente, considerato come Level5 tenda a "bruciare" le proprie IP sfruttandole fino all'inverosimile, mi pare che Hino sia un leader con filosofia alquanto diversa da Nintendo che viceversa si preoccupa molto della tenuta sul medio/lungo termine.

[Turrican3]

New Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima spoke exclusively to TIME about the company's future, including what Nintendo's new fellowship roles entail, why (contrary to reports) he never said the Wii U would be a failure, what Nintendo Account and My Nintendo are more broadly meant to do, and how long he hopes to remain at Nintendo's helm. Here's a lightly-edited transcript of the conversation:

[...]

Making "Nintendo Account" and "My Nintendo" work well his his number one goal with regards to the company's mobile strategy
"And so of course we need something to connect all of this together, and this is where My Nintendo as well as the Nintendo Account system comes in," he says, describing Nintendo Account as a strategy to unify all of Nintendo's properties across pretty much every platform, from Nintendo's own devices to tablets and smartphones to PCs and beyond. My Nintendo, a crucial subset of Nintendo Account and the company's full-on rethink of its recently retired games-focused "Club Nintendo," will still be a rewards program, but with far broader scope.

"So for My Nintendo, of course you'll get points in traditional ways like through the purchase of software," Kimishima explains. "But we're also looking at nontraditional ways of getting points just by accessing our content, wherever you may find it. And you'll be able to use those points in some way or other to get benefits at places like theme parks, or perhaps when purchasing merchandize. There will be opportunities for these points to benefit the end user."

"So again, we're looking at really strengthening the connections between My Nintendo and the Nintendo Account system, as well as—and this is I think probably our number one overall goal—connecting all of our Nintendo IP within this framework and allowing our customer base to have access to our IP via this, and gain benefits from that access and that connection. I think that will be something that no other company has to offer."

"It's very important for us to establish both of these things, but in order for people to create a Nintendo Account, we must first make them want to do so. Connecting all of these areas, we will establish an account and global membership services that support people across the full range of growing Nintendo experiences."

[...]

He did not say the Wii U would be a failure
A mid-September Nikkei story suggested he did, but Kimishima says he was responding to a life-to-date sales comparison question, and that his answer was misunderstood.

"The Nikkei reporter's question to me was 'The Wii U is not selling at this point in its lifetime as well as the Wii was at the same time. Why is that?'" says Kimishima. "And my answer was that the Wii at this point has sold over 100 million units worldwide, and even through there are people saying 'Hey, since the Wii was so successful, Wii U is also going to be successful and it's also going to sell like wildfire as well,' I looked at that global install base and said that it might not sell as well. That was my response. Not that it wouldn't sell, but that it would be more difficult because of the install base of the Wii itself."

"The point that I was trying to get across was that Wii has sold so much and is being played by so many people, it's not going to be easy to make them leave that and come to the next system. That was my only point, that it was a difficult task for us to bring those consumers from Wii to Wii U. But unfortunately it doesn't look like my message got across clearly."

He acknowledges the Wii U's problems, but says the company intends to keep making software for the console
"As you know within the game business momentum is key," says Kimishima when I ask how long the Wii U will remain a core Nintendo platform. "When you have momentum, whether it's a platform or software, sales increase. At this point in the Wii U lifespan, we're looking at 10 million sell-through for the hardware itself, which is just about a tenth of what we sold overall for Wii."

"What I want to do, I think our first job right now is to make sure that the customers, those 10 million customers who have a Wii U at home have software to play. And we need to make sure that they are satisfied with their purchase and continue to enjoy playing on this platform. So we can't just abandon them and say 'Hey, it's time to move on to the next thing.' Of course we are working on NX and looking at the experiences we can bring to that platform. But first our job at this point is to support the consumers who have purchase Wii U and make sure that they have software experiences available to them."

[...]

The new organizational "fellow" positions are about making sure Nintendo IP endures long into the future
Under the new managerial structure, Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario, Donkey Kong and most of Nintendo's most beloved characters) was named a "creative fellow," while Genyo Takeda (the company's console design expert) was named its "technology fellow." But it hasn't been clear what those roles entailed. Kimishima clarifies:

"With respect to Mr. Miyamoto and Mr. Takeda, really what we want to do with the whole fellowship position in the organization is to leverage all of that knowledge and all of that experience they have, to really look at the future of Nintendo, to bring that creative force into crafting and developing what we are going to be in the future. And I'm not talking about just the next year or two, but the future, and you can hear the capital 'F' there I think."

"Mr. Miyamoto, for instance, is spending a lot of time, not only with his fellow developers, but also working with Universal Theme Parks to design the Nintendo experience that will evolve there. In fact, you may even be seeing Nintendo characters more often in the clothing and shoes that people wear."

"As far as the second big role that they have, it's really working day to day with the talented staff that we have at Nintendo and growing and nurturing that creative force. You have people like Mr. Konno responsible for the Mario Kart series, or Mr. Koizumi who is in our Tokyo office with Mario Galaxy and so forth. So those guys are really working on that ground level, saying 'Okay, let's create the software we need today and tomorrow.' And Mr. Miyamoto and Mr. Takeda are of course supporting them, but also, as I said previously, looking into the future of Nintendo as well."

[...]

Dedicated game platforms remain Nintendo's chief preoccupation
"NX [the codename for Nintendo's next game system] is in development," says Kimishima, reaffirming that Nintendo will have more to say about it next year, and calling it "a next step in our dedicated device strategy, the core and primary focus of our business."

And he says NX is definitely a departure from the Wii and Wii U
"As far as NX goes, I've said it's different and obviously a new experience," he tells me. "If you look back to the beginning of our conversation today, we talked about the transition from Wii hardware to the Wii U hardware and how difficult it is to explain to the consumer base what is different and new about the new hardware. It's difficult to convince them to switch from their current platform to the next platform."

"That being said, I can assure you we're not building the next version of Wii or Wii U. It's something unique and different. It's something where we have to move away from those platforms in order to make it something that will appeal to our consumer base."

But where the codename "NX" comes from turns out to be a mystery
"As for the codename NX, I don't believe that there's any real meaning behind it, and to be perfectly honest, I don't know where it came from," says Kimishima, laughing when I ask. "Or perhaps Mr. Iwata had meant to tell me and then never got the chance."

He definitely won't be a one-year president
"I know that everyone is interested in how long I will be around," he says, laughing. "I really want to say that all the initiatives I've discussed with you, these are on me, these are my responsibility and I have every intention of seeing these to fruition."

"Also, something I think that maybe was misunderstood previously was, there was talk about me being around for one year. What that was, is the board of directors, as a member of the board, the term is for one year. And at the next shareholders meeting we have to be reconfirmed as board members. That happens on a yearly basis, but there was never any meaning that I would only be president for one year in that conversation."

"What I really want to do is work with the young and talented staff members that we have at Nintendo, and continue to nurture and grow them, so that they can express their creativity, but also so they can take on some of those management roles and become the leaders we need to take the company into the future."

http://time.com/4131306/nintendo-kimishima-interview/

Lunghissima intervista a Kimishima.
Ho cercato di condensare il più possibile, parla un po' di tutto, accenno ad NX incluso.

[Turrican3]

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2016/160427_3e.pdf
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1212205

Proseguono i cambiamenti in casa Nintendo.

Purtroppo non parlando il businessese mi devo appoggiare a terzi, nello specifico il thread su GAF riporta che con questa nuova struttura aziendale dovrebbe rendere Nintendo più simile ad altri colossi dell'industria, inoltre Reggie e Shibata (cioè i boss dei rami USA ed Europa rispettivamente) parrebbero acquisire maggiori poteri decisionali. Prendetela con le pinze giacchè, come detto, non sono esttamente competente in materia.