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Nintendo of America Has a New President

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the reggielution-goes-bigtime dept.

Stupid Dufus writes "GameDAILY Biz is reporting that Nintendo has changed ranks at its North American division. From the story: 'Nintendo of America has just announced three major executive promotions. Reggie Fils-Aime has become the new president and COO, while current president Tatsumi Kimishima has been elevated to chairman and CEO. Also, Mike Fukuda is being promoted from senior vp of Business Development to executive vp of Business Development.'"

30 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. If only Sony and Microsoft... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    If Sony and Microsoft got new leaders for their game divisions, maybe they could get their act together. Especially on the prices. A new born for a video game console is tad bit too much.

    1. Re:If only Sony and Microsoft... by grogdamighty · · Score: 4, Funny

      I had a low-birthweight kid and only got the core system. :(

      --
      My other sig is funny.
    2. Re:If only Sony and Microsoft... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      I have had conversations with more than a couple of people who say that the PS3's price won't affect its sales; I think these people are delusional. The benefit of a lower price point is that even people who have no money can afford your system.

      When I was in high school on of my friends really wanted a N64 at launch; his father was unemployed at the time and my friend was too involved in sports to hold a part time job so he had very limited access to spending money. What he decided to do was sell his SNES and all of his SNES games; after selling his SNES, and about 20-30 games, he had more than enough money to buy his N64.

      What I'm saying is that at $200 anyone can find the money to buy your system, at $600 it is a different story.

  2. I, for one by Red+Samurai · · Score: 4, Funny

    Welcome our new ass-kicking, name-taking, game-making COOverlord.

    1. Re:I, for one by Rod+Beauvex · · Score: 1, Funny

      http://www.reveries.com/reverb/kids_marketing/fils -aime/images/names.jpg

  3. The old president by lordmoose · · Score: 5, Funny

    They had to get rid of their old president, Nester, because he was giving away all the game secrets.

    1. Re:The old president by Dr.+Eggman · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, he didn't really leave. He was "elevated," promoted if you will, to chairman and CEO.

      --
      Demented But Determined.
    2. Re:The old president by Kuukai · · Score: 1

      They had to get rid of their old president, Nester, because he was giving away all the game secrets.

      Yes, like when he slipped and said "up up down down left right left right b a start" at that press conference. I think that sealed his fate.

      --
      Sendou Wave Kick!!
    3. Re:The old president by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

      Yeah. So it's not another case of an idiot being kicked out...

      *cough* Bernie Stolar *cough*

      --
      Circumcision is child abuse.
  4. anyone get axed? by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So, did anyone get axed? Who was their former CEO?

    --
    This guy's the limit!
    1. Re:anyone get axed? by Pendersempai · · Score: 1

      Note that GP asked who was the original CEO, not president.

    2. Re:anyone get axed? by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 1

      Thank you for that bit of insight. As Pendersempai points out below, the former President (Kimishima) has been moved to Chairman of the BoD and CEO, which does not answer my question. According to TFA, Reggie is the new President and COO, and Fukuda is now Exec VP of BusDev. Ignoring Fukuda, Reggie and Kimishima seem to basically have been bumped up a notch each. Usually, in order for that to happen, there needs to be a vacancy. In this case, it sounds like that was the CEO position. Now, either NOA's been running without a CEO for a while or somebody retired/got axed. Which brings me back around to the questions I originally asked.

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    3. Re:anyone get axed? by Stuart+Gibson · · Score: 1

      Yeah, my bad, I noticed that right after I posted, then tried to post a retraction and apology, which also seems to have gone missing (along with my ability to RTFC). So let's put it down to a bad Slashdot night and I'll go play Animal Crossing :)

      --
      It's all fun and games until a 200' robot dinosaur shows up and trashes Neo-Tokyo... Again
    4. Re:anyone get axed? by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      "Now, either NOA's been running without a CEO for a while or somebody retired/got axed."

      I don't know what happened in the meantime, but Yamauchi retired relatively recently and Iwata, former chief in the US, got bumped up to overall big-shot.

    5. Re:anyone get axed? by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 1

      Thanks very much for the answer. That's exactly what I was looking for. While it's not totally unheard of for a large company not to have a CEO, it still seems a bit odd...

      --
      This guy's the limit!
  5. Chairman/CEO and President/COO? by Khopesh · · Score: 1
    Ah, sharing responsibilities, politically correct titles that obfuscate the apparent chain of command. Who is in charge? The article makes Fils-Aime look like just a COO, not President ...

    I actually suggested this strategy in a recent ask slashdot post, but that was adivce to a two-man operation ... a huge corporation like Nintendo of America should probably not be playing that kind of game, especially if they have nothing to hide and no investigations to dodge.

    --
    Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
  6. Yawn... by ravyne · · Score: 1

    Wake me when it's Claude Comair!

    1. Re:Yawn... by BinaryOpty · · Score: 1

      Ahaha, Claude Comair being the President of NOA would spell doom for the company if how he's managed DigiPen is any indication.

    2. Re:Yawn... by PhoenixOne · · Score: 1
      Ah, another DigiPen student I take it.

      Toto, tata, titi. ;)

      --
      Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!
    3. Re:Yawn... by nekura · · Score: 1

      'nother one here.

      --

      "Programming is like sex - one mistake and you'll have to support it for the rest of your life."
  7. Higher-ups Schmigher-ups by grammar+fascist · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I really don't care what happens with Nintendo's higher-ups as long as Shigeru Miyamoto keeps making games there.

    Heck, if he made them somewhere else, I'd probably defect.

    --
    I got my Linux laptop at System76.
    1. Re:Higher-ups Schmigher-ups by mrnobo1024 · · Score: 1

      Shigeru works for Nintendo Co. Ltd. (the Japanese division, sometimes erroneously called "Nintendo of Japan"), not Nintendo of America.

  8. Reggie as president is very good news by Rolman · · Score: 2, Informative

    Former NOA President and founder Minoru Arakawa used to be a very aggressive businessman who, back in the 80's pioneered most of what are considered normal business practices in the whole industry today. Both criticized and admired, he single-handedly revived the videogame industry in America and made NOA what it is.

    It was kinda sad to see him replaced by Tatsumi Kimishima, formerly the President of Pokémon USA. NOA has definitely become a lot more passive since then. Not to bash Kimishima, though, because Nintendo continues to be a good business. That hasn't changed one bit and I'm sure that's a very good reason to make Kimishima remain in the top position as CEO.

    Now enter Reggie Fils-Aime, who introduced himself to the public as an ass-kicker, name-taker guy. I've met the guy myself a couple times, he's extremely sharp and has a very good forward-thinking attitude. This is the kind of person I'd really like to see driving Nintendo into the future.

    I'm happy to see Nintendo rearranging the chain of command to place Reggie in a better position to take decisions about the company's direction.

    More power to him.

    --
    - Otaku no naka no otaku, otaking da!!!
  9. That's the Konami code, not Nintendo by tepples · · Score: 1

    Nintendo didn't use the Konami code. Konami did.

    1. Re:That's the Konami code, not Nintendo by Kuukai · · Score: 1

      Putting aside the fact that it was a joke and that that detail doesn't really have anything to do with it, Mario Kart DS and the "WarioWare, Inc Mega..." games, among others, use the Konami code.

      --
      Sendou Wave Kick!!
  10. Good by Piroca · · Score: 1


    I don't mean to be a troll, but what's the relevance of this? Nintendo of America is pretty irrelevant as a business. From the post count you can figure out this is absolutely of no interest for everyone...

    1. Re:Good by SageinaRage · · Score: 1

      I think it's more a case of, people don't really know what to expect. So far, Reggie's just done a lot of marketing, so we don't know what kind of new decisions he would make as president. And if you think that Nintendo is irrelevant as a business, then you must not pay attention to the news, or know what makes a business relevant.

    2. Re:Good by DDLKermit007 · · Score: 1

      Your either new here (your UID is too low for that) or just another Sony PR troll. For an irrelivent company it sure got Sony to react with a bad controler resdesign. I wish I had modpoints to mod you as troll.

    3. Re:Good by Duds · · Score: 1

      I think it's more that it's on the front page as literally just a headline, and the headline isn't interested.

      If the headline had mentioned Reggie, you'd get a lot more posts.

  11. Is Reggie the new Howard Phillips? by MilenCent · · Score: 1

    Howard Phillips was the "president of the Nintendo Fun Club," and the first editor of Nintendo Power. The man was a kind of all-around spokesman/friendly corporate face/human mascot for Nintendo at the time, to the degree that he was one-half of the "Howard and Nester" comic printed in the magazine. Eventually he left the company, and bounced around the industry for a while, but once in a while the magazine will still mention him. (Entertainingly, he now works for Microsoft Game Studios, who could really use such a humanizing face.)

    Now, Reggie Fils-Amie is the one person working at Nintendo of America that a non-initiate would be likely to name. Putting aside how one feels about his over-proclaimed kicking of ass and taking of name, he doesn't seem quite as jolly as their former spokesman. I'm thinking specifically of his speeches back at Nintendo's E3 press conference. Phillips was (if memory serves, it's been a while) humorous and self-effacing, while Fils-Amie talks trash. With buzz over Wii fairly high after the show, he has the potential to preside (as much as a non-American can ever preside at NOA) over a resurging of the company's fortunes unequaled since the NES days.

    How long before we get a Reggie and Nester comic? Can it really be so long, and will he be wiping the floor with that punk round-headed kid's ass? Could that happen soon enough?