Topic: Where Does Nintendo Go From Here?

Thank you. Just because he passed, as awful as it is, doesn't mean we all suddenly have to agree with the way he ran the company at times. He deserves all the respect he gets, but that doesn't change the fact that the last couple of years were frustrating for Nintendo fans at times.

Do any of you that say you "don't agree with the way he ran the company" know anything about business? Didn't think so.

I think most have a basic understanding, but yeah, I doubt anyone can really understand the difficulty involved with running an wealthy international corporation. It's one of those things that's probably to difficult and involved for the average consumer to understand.

One of my biggest fears is that Nintendo elects a CEO from another company. 2nd Parties are fine, but Nintendo has a way of doing things their own way. Hiring someone from another company as President and CEO could put an end to that.

I really hope the pull someone from within. Someone who understands company culture and attitudes.

While I don't want Nintendo to forget where they came from. It's important to keep in mind how differently things were operated by it's 2 CEOs. Under Yamauchi, Nintendo was a shrewd, power-hungry monster who wanted to control the entire industry. Under Iwata, Nintendo was more relaxed and experimental, but also more reclusive and conservative. They weren't interested in competing with Sony or Microsoft, and would rather carve their own niche. If any developer wanted to try their contraptions, that was fine, but they wouldn't activley court the latest CoD or Assassin's Creed.

The new CEO will have to take the strengths of both Yamauchi and Iwata, but also craft their own style on what Nintendo should be, without sacrificing it's core values.

Oh I'm sorry, is this not a Nintendo forum where we discuss things about Nintendo and share our opinions? I thought so.

How often do CEOs elect someone from outside the company? I wouldn't think Nintendo would do that, they'd probably prefer to promote one of their own.

The next CEO needs to bring the right amount of change in the right areas. A CEO that doesn't deviate from Iwata at all is almost if not just as bad as one that pulls a complete 180. Hopefully it'll be someone smart enough to understand the problems with Nintendo's current approach and can change course just enough to rectify those issues without destroying everything they stand for.

Although that seems untrue, it could happen. As I remember, Nomura is friends with Nintendo. Not only that, he was a friend to Iwata. (Iwata confirmed it interview with Nomura: "Oh yes, we're good friends.”

I think Iwata did a lot more good than bad. His biggest issue was a lack of understanding the west, but he also had a really good capacity for learning from mistakes and adapting.

So someone who is identical to Iwata wouldn't be too bad IMO.

While I find terrible that we are already discussing who is going to replace Iwata, I know it is something Nintendo has to decide in the next weeks, so there's no escaping from this sad reality. As stated before, finding someone with the same sensibility as Iwata is going to be downright impossible - the man was just phenomenal in so many ways.

We don't know if Iwata knew his last days were approaching, so we don't know if he had the time to instruct someone to take his place someday. Of course a great developer doesn't mean a great president. A CEO has to have a million of qualities that don't necessary include great coding skills - for example our president Shibata is not a "gamer" nor a developer, and yet he is the best president we could ask for.

That said, we all know Iwata had a pupil who is an extraordinary developer and someone who can work 24/7. I'm not sure this person knows anything about the business, but I wouldn't complain seeing him in the hot seat one day.

Agreed.

The irony of this thread is how all the people calling for change and new leadership at Nintendo now have their trump card; the passing of Iwata just propelled that agenda forward. Like it or not.

Because he died. Doesn't mean they have to respect what he did before his death.

I would imagine that the role of the CEO will be split between Genyo Takeda, Shigeru Miyamoto & Tatsumi Kimishima for the time being until the Board can elect a new CEO. Both Takeda and Miyamoto are probably heavily involved in Hardware and Software so may be best left to concentrate on pushing business forward in that respect. I would actually be surprised if a full time replacement will be decided before the financial year end - this is just my opinion, could be wrong of course! I would also be surprised if Takeda or Miyamoto got the role - they excel in so many areas, but in my opinion their talent will be wasted if they are taken away and appointed as the CEO.

@Aviator: So by that logic, whatever Miyamoto does right now doesn't matter anymore because he's just stuck with his past days. Heck, whatever Sakurai does now doesn't matter until his death arrives.

How about that whatever Nintendo does right now will NEVER matter because what they did back then only matters.

I don't know if any of you know the term "motivation" here. Whether its now or then, a person would like to be motivated to work for as long as he/she lives. Simply telling that he's aged and his quality is old despite the fact that he's still making good games just makes me wonder if people can only value someone stuck in the past rather than present.

Iwata was obviously part of the reason Nintendo believes in not putting out broken games, about protecting Children online, about not bankrupting the company with development costs. He must of had a great deal to do with avoiding Sequelitis with Smash, Mario Kart, and Zelda and other games. He was definitely responsible for making sure his employees kept their jobs in hard times. He championed the idea of giving his developers a voice and a chance to tinker on ideas. He gave the go ahead for the Smash Tournament and the Nintendo Championships, and developed a totally unique way of Nintendo's top board members-including himself- to interact and show their human side in the Nintendo Directs.

To me, none of these things should change. For me Nintendo's ethics and connection to the core fans is perfect. I'm guessing at this point the wheels are in motion for the NX, so that course isn't going to be diverted. If it truly is a different out there idea, that comes with strong line up of 1st party games, there is a chance to capture the general public's imagination. Personally I believe Nintendo will never 'out Xbox an Xbox' as the 'core/mature' gaming box, because that isn't what Nintendo does, just like how Disney doesn't try to compete in the 18 certificate film market- even if they did, fans wouldn't believe them to be truly 'hardcore'.

As for who will take over Iwata, I doubt Miyamoto will because he's an inventor and not a business man, and Fils-Aime won't because he's neither Japanese nor a developer. I'm guessing it'll be a member of the board who has developing experience (so as to keep the other developer members of the board happy), or perhaps Shibata. Shibata is the right choice in a Western media sense because he's used to business, advertising, and can speak English. Or of course, we could have a less public president with someone like Shibata or Trinnen taking over the Direct full time.

Oh my god.

Sure, if you wanna think of it like that. A person can still be respected regardless of what they do.

That's...not what he said at all actually. We can also respect Iwata more now because his death tells us that he was running this company on poor health.

I think the main thing people always forget when looking at it from the consumer side is how slow everything moves. The gaming industry always goes through quick fads, sometimes ones that last less than a year. With hardware in particular they're making decisions about what the product will be years in advance. If people think that predicting what people would want in 2013/14 back in 2009/10 would have been easy? Well ok, but I don't agree. Because when I try to put myself into a pre-iPad headspace the Wii U looks pretty damn impressive.

@TheMisterManGuy: Very much agreed. The next CEO has to be his own identity, but should also work to emulate Iwata's openness and Yamauchi's strong decisions, hopefully without including Iwata's tendency to play the cards close to his chest or Yamauchi's iron-fisted draconian methods. (Mind you, those methods were necessary in the third and fourth generations, but they were his downfall in fifth and sixth gen. That's honestly probably WHY he put Iwata in charge.)

@skywake: I really like your reply here. We could be in for a treat soon, as nintendo releases pretty impressive stuff usually. The wii launched way before the iphone, and I really liked its new and accessible interface back then, featuring serious games to boot.

In comparison, I think nintendo usually designs great experiences but got disrupted at the wii U. It really doesn't feel like another one of those disruptions is coming up while nintendo announces its major new thing, so whatever is next fron them could be more awesome than we imagine.