What's Next for Nintendo?
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To say that Nintendo suffered a terrible loss two weeks ago is an understatement. It's something that not only hurts Nintendo, but the gaming industry as a whole. We all saw those great tributes respecting him. But not only did they lose a relatively successful president, they lost a gamer at heart who understood his audience. It's not every day you have a corporate executive reaching out to an audience in the way that he did, in moves such as the Iwata Asks interview series or his Nintendo Directs. Who doesn't remember Iwata opening up a brand new Wii U console in full suit and white surgical gloves? In terms of video gaming CEOs, who seem to have (in my opinion) forgotten about what makes video games fun in the first place, Iwata was a one of a kind individual. Finding someone next in line who can live up to that is going to be damning difficult, and quite frankly a lot of people are spooked that this successor will not be up to par in comparison with what Satoru Iwata has accomplished in over a decade of work. So, who are the two most likely successors at this point?
At this point in the game, the two biggest faces that Nintendo has in terms of a new president are in the form of Genyo Takeda, the general manager of Nintendo's research division, and Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's ace card and, pretty much, the legend behind the most popular series and the king of first party games.
When people hear Genyo Takeda, they ask, "who's this guy?" Genyo Takeda is one of the reasons why the Nintendo Wii was so successful - he pushed to have the user interface completely revamped and in doing so, helped bring about motion technology gaming. From what reports have said about Takeda, though, he's a tad unpopular over in Japan, and he's also 66 years old at present - something that may make him not exactly the most primed for leading a huge gaming behemoth such as Nintendo. He does however, have additional ways to spice up his image, as he was Nintendo's first developer, having created titles such as EVR Race, as well as the main force behind why players were able to save their games in The Legend of Zelda (Source). This guy has the corporate sense, though, and for a lot of people, that's what's important.
And then, we have Shigeru Miyamoto. I'm pretty sure we don't need to introduce him, as almost everyone who's played video games has probably heard of him in some way, shape, or form. With his extensive resume and his vast successes at Nintendo, it's no wonder that people are clamoring for Miyamoto to take up the helm at Nintendo. While I find him to be a decent choice, his skills to me are much better in leading for software development. I don't quite know how Miyamoto would work leading, and quite frankly, a lot of people agree that Miyamoto may end up being a disastrous corporate figure.
So there we have it; we have two men who are two sides of the coin that can essentially fulfill each other's weaknesses. And they are, right now, co-running Nintendo as Representative Directors. While Miyamoto is an excellent software head, his corporate leadership skills may not be up to par as much as Genyo Takeda. With Takeda being a good business executive, albeit an unpopular one, he is most likely going to be the one who takes the position as President of Nintendo.
That leads to another side divergent topic. I've been reading a lot of comments following Iwata's death that seem to praise his passing, with people cheering on his death as a sign that Nintendo will finally move out of the stone age. After reading a few interviews that took place with Dan Adelman, former independent gaming chief at Nintendo, and seeing how hierarchical Japanese society is, it's no surprise that things like this take a long time to move (Source). Apparently, to get something started, it has to get a vast majority of the stockholders and the board of directors to agree upon it, and that's no easy feat. All it takes, summing it broadly, is one no, and the project is a bust. Risk taking is not rewarded. From what interviews have been painting, Iwata was one of the forces of change within Nintendo, not the reason why Nintendo is holding back from its core audience. With that being kept in mind, I don't necessarily think that Nintendo is going to suddenly change its ways as quickly as some gamers seem to imagine. And don't get me wrong, I want to see a more modernized Nintendo going forward.
Nintendo is at a crossroad right now - a crossroad that can see them blow our socks off at the next E3 with the revelation of the Nintendo NX console, or left in the dust as they fall into mediocrity - with the failure of the Wii U. And it doesn't get worse than this, Nintendo. Get your head out of the gutter, and impress us. With the passing of Satoru Iwata, while I have hopes for the future, I'm left hanging in fear a little bit as a company that has since dominated my household since I was a child could fall into a rut that they just might not make it out of. Will I ever see anything as maddening as the reveal of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess from 2004, again? You guys nailed it at E3 last year, and so what, you fell this year. Everyone falls once in a while, pull yourself together and get up!
What are your guys' thoughts on this? Nintendo's good to go forward? Falling forever into its rut? Somewhere in between? Let me know what you think!
