Meet Nintendo’s New Soon-to-Be President

Nintendo has appointed a new president. The current president, Tatsumi Kimishima, was always understood to be a stand-in of sorts until a more permanent appointee could be decided upon. On June 28, 2018, Kimishima will step down, and the 46 year-old Shuntaro Furukawa will become the new President of Nintendo.

Furukawa has a long and storied history with Nintendo, despite his age. 46 may not seem shockingly young to Westerners, but in the East that is considered young for such an important role. Satoru Iwata was only 42 when he took over as president, and Nintendo has shown great awareness in its continued recognition of its younger leaders. The handing down of leadership roles to those with the utmost tenure and seniority has become a bit of a problem in Western and Eastern business alike, since it can retard or even halt innovation or create a culture non-conducive to risk-taking.

Pokemon fans will note right away that Furukawa-san has acted as Outside Director of The Pokemon Company since May 2012. If you’re deep into the Pokemon scene and recognize his name for some reason, that’s probably why. Though The Pokemon Company is not owned outright by Nintendo — they share a roughly 33% stake with Game Freak and Creatures — it will be interesting to see how Furukawa’s tenure as president may bring Pokemon even more tightly into Nintendo’s bosom (gross).

It’s stated that Furukawa played a major part in the Switch’s success, but exactly how is unknown. We do know that the younger designers and leaders within Nintendo led the charge in the Switch’s development and execution, which is the primary reason Nintendo forged its new partnership with Nvidia. If indeed Furukawa is part of that younger, innovative crowd, Nintendo could have a very bright future ahead of it in the wake of the Switch’s monstrous launch.

We’ll keep you guys updated throughout the day as we learn more from Nintendo’s briefing. We should have another major conference to look forward to later this evening, so stay tuned!