Mario / PetWORKS
Image: Nintendo Life

Nintendo has announced that it is appointing a new outside director to the company who will also take a seat as a member of the board.

Subject to approval on 27th June 2025 as part of the annual shareholder meeting, Kazuhiko Hachiya will join Nintendo as a director, effective immediately upon approval.

You might not have heard of Hachiya before, but he currently serves as director for a doll-making company in Tokyo, Japan called PetWORKs. He's been director since September 2010 and a representative director beforehand since January 1998.

He's also a prominent figure within the fine arts world, currently serving as director of the Art Media Center at Tokyo University of the Arts and professor within the Department of Intermedia Art.

We can't see any obvious or immediate connection between Hachiya and Nintendo, but we imagine there must be some mutual interest in either PetWORKs or Hachiya's experience within the fine arts. According to his YouTube channel, he's also very much into flying, so could we perhaps see his influence in franchises like Star Fox or Pilotwings..?

Otherwise, he's posted a few videos on his channel in which he utilises VR technology to interact with cute teddy bears within a homely environment; not entirely unlike Animal Crossing then. The tech appears to be based on an old 'PostPet' idea in collaboration with Sony dating back to 1997, in which characters act as email mascots of sorts, loosely inspired by Tamagotchi. Either way, Hachiiya's interests and expertise in the doll industry screams Nintendo, so it feels like a pretty natural fit.

Chances are we probably won't see Hachiya's influence on Nintendo for a good while yet, but it'll be interesting to see what he can potentially bring to the company going forward.

What do you make of this appointment from Nintendo? Let us know your thoughts with a comment down below.

[source nintendo.co.jp]