Kimishima – career overview, how he helped Wii shortages, feels “responsible for every single gamer”

TIME recently published an interview with Tatsumi Kimishima, the new president of Nintendo. Topics covered during the discussion included the NX, mobile, Wii U, how long he’ll be around, and more.

There was actually another piece about Kimishima accompanying the interview that went under the radar. The other TIME article went in-depth with history, covering his early career and leading up to the time when he joined Nintendo. There are also interesting quotes (including some from Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime) about how he helped out when Wii was facing shortages and the responsibility he feels towards gamers.

We’ve summarized TIME’s article below. I’d highly advise taking a look at the full article here as well.

– Joined Nintendo in the early 2000s
– This was when Pokemon was on the rise
– Nintendo boss Yamauchi was keen to spread the brand worldwide and establish a Pokémon subsidiary in the west
– Yamauchi wanted to appoint an emissary with significant business savvy from outside the games industry
– Kimishima had devoted nearly three decades to helping lead Japan’s Sanwa Bank (one of the most profitable financial institutions in the world at the time)
– His rise included turns as head of public relations and as a management planning lead posted to the U.S
– Kimishima became president of the company union when he was 38
– He had to make decisions on behalf of more than 10,000 people, then figure out how to push those ideas through a 12-person executive committee
– Yamauchi was interested in Kimishima, “based on my unusual banking history”
– First meeting between the two during which Yamauchi laid out his strategy for the company and hopes for Pokemon lasted an hour
– “It was much more of a one-way conversation”
– When Kimishima got a word in, he said the only Pokemon he knew was Pikachu

“And Mr. Yamauchi quickly said back to me, ‘Actually, I don’t know much about Pokémon either.’ I don’t think he was being entirely honest.”

On how Kimishima says he was all but given marching orders after the conversation…

“Without waiting for any sort of reply from me, Mr. Yamauchi said ‘Come to Nintendo next month, I want you to start working on Pokémon.’ Since I had spoken barely a word during the interview, I was quite surprised.”

– Joined The Pokémon Company as its chief financial officer in late 2000
– Left in 2002 to become president of Nintendo of America
– Also joined the company’s board of directors
– Was the American branch’s chief executive officer a few years later
– Promoted in 2013 to managing director of the company
– Kimishima was mistakenly billed by some outlets as head of human resources
– While Kimishima was appointed to manage Nintendo HR in 2014, his primary role remained managing director of the company
– Reggie says Kimishima is “a master at navigating all of the various Nintendo constituents to make big things happen”
– Reggie also says he’s “the ideal successor to Mr. Iwata”

Reggie on how Kimishima helped Wii supply shortages several years ago…

“Think back to 2006, 2007. At this point the Wii had launched, and the huge issue that we were facing here in the Americas, was that there wasn’t nearly enough Nintendo DS as well as Wii inventory to satisfy demand here in the Americas. These were the days of continuous shortages, lines around the block for the Wii at the Nintendo World store in New York City. Consumers weren’t happy, our retailers weren’t happy, and neither were we. So we devised a plan. He began doing what he does, persuasively working behind the scenes to align global Nintendo organizations.”

– Kimishima orchestrated complex interactions between president Iwata, the company CFO, its head of manufacturing and “other key folks” at Nintendo corporate to fix the problems
– Wii returned to shelves in sufficient numbers to deliver record-breaking holiday sales in the Americas in 2008 and 2009

“That is the way Mr. Kimishima works. He’s low profile, but very high efficiency. And that’s what was recognized when in 2013 he was promoted to managing director for Nintendo globally and moved back to Japan.” – Reggie

Kimishima’s recollection of the story includes a telling moment where he says Iwata himself had significant doubts…

“At one point even Mr. Iwata was saying, you know, he sort of whispered to me, ‘Mr. Kimishima, that’s impossible, that’s not a realistic goal.’ And I said ‘No, I think it is.’ And that’s again, saying it and repeating it and getting everyone onboard, that’s sort of the style that I adopted.’”

On his role as the hand behind the curtain during that holiday Wii shortage…

“Success is not the result of individual efforts. It is really the result of having good fortune, or having good luck. It’s not our place to go out and say ‘Hey, look at me, I did this, I was successful!’”

On being upbeat about his ability to lead Nintendo…

“I feel that I have a firm understanding of this company. I know how it operates. I know there are strings that can be leveraged, and that there are areas where improvement is required, and all this creates a great sense of responsibility. I feel responsible for every employee. I feel responsible for every shareholder. Perhaps most importantly I feel responsible for every single gamer.”

Thanks to Jake for the tip.