It has been just over two months since the tragic passing of Nintendo Co., Ltd.’s long-time president, Satoru Iwata, and now the Japanese game company has announced that its new president will be former Nintendo of America president Tatsumi Kimishima.

Kimishima has a long history with Nintendo, first in 2000 when he served as the Chief Financial Officer of The Pokémon Company, which is affiliated with Nintendo through the Pokémon game franchise. He later became president of Nintendo of America in 2002 shortly after the launch of Nintendo Gamecube, and he held that position until 2006 when he was promoted to Nintendo of America CEO with Reggie Fils-Aime taking on the role of president.

More recently, Kimishima was named managing director of Nintendo Co., Ltd. in 2013, a position which he currently still holds in addition to now being the company president.

Nintendo announced Kimishima’s appointment in a rather dry official notice, which states: “Nintendo Co., Ltd. is pleased to announce that at the extraordinary meeting of the Board of Directors held on September 14, 2015, the following personnel change of a Representative Director and role changes of Directors were resolved. … We aim to strengthen and enhance the management structure of the Company following President (Representative Director) Satoru Iwata’s passing on July 11, 2015 and a large-scale revision of the organizational structure of the Company on September 16, 2015.”

The notice then lists the names and new positions of several high-ranking Nintendo staff, including Kimishima’s promotion to president.

Shortly after Iwata’s death, there had been rumors that the position might be taken by Genyo Takeda, head of Nintendo’s hardware development division, or by Shigeru Miyamoto, head of Nintendo’s creative division and the legendary game creator behind Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and others. While neither Takeda nor Miyamoto were chosen as president, Nintendo’s announcement stated that they have been given the newly established roles of Technology Fellow and Creative Fellow, respectively.

According to the statement, a fellow is “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.”

This sounds like a smart move for Nintendo, allowing Takeda and Miyamoto to do what they do best while still offering their wisdom and experience to Kimishima.

Photo by FaruSantos