A new age has dawned at Nintendo Co., Ltd. as Shuntaro Furukawa was officially appointed the company’s new Representative Director and President during the 78th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. As the fourth president in Nintendo’s history since crossing into video games, he succeeds Tatsumi Kimishima after an almost-three year stint.
In his opening message to the shareholder and investment community, Furukawa promised to uphold the principles and values Nintendo stands for: bringing smiles to more faces, and expanding the reach of their beloved IP.
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.
Based on this fundamental strategy, we will continue striving to offer products and services that anyone can enjoy, regardless of age, gender, or gaming experience by keeping our dedicated video game platform business with its integrated hardware and software at the core of our operations, as we have always done.
…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.
The wheels of motion to evolve Nintendo as an entertainment company have been spinning in the last three years, with former president Satoru Iwata laying the groundwork for Nintendo to collaborate with Universal Parks and Resort, appear in the movie business with Illumination Entertainment producing a Mario movie, and producing mobile games for the first time. Furukawa has made clear his aim to make the mobile market a key pillar of the business at Nintendo.
Meanwhile, Nintendo of Europe appointed a new CEO of their own, Mr. Koji Miyake. He was previously the general manager of the human resources department of Nintendo. Mr. Miyake takes over for Satoru Shibata, the region’s CEO of 18 years.
NOE also appointed a new COO, Stephan Bole. He previously served multiple roles in past years since 2001, including the managing director of Nintendo France. Mr. Bole is joined by Luciano Pereña as CFO and Laurent Fischer as CMO.
Satoru Shibata is not done with Nintendo however, as he returns to Kyoto to undertake the role of general manager for the firm’s marketing and licensing divisions. He is also ascending the corporate ladder as a member of Nintendo’s Board of Directors.
Oprainfall wishes Shuntaro Furukawa, Koji Miyake, and Stephen Bole the very best as they undertake their new leadership roles at Nintendo.
