After the passing of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, many analysts have chimed in on the direction they believe the company will go to appoint new leadership. While Shigeru Miyamoto may be a fan favorite for taking over the leadership of the company, analysts have other opinions rooted in the fact that Miyamoto has always been more about the creative side of Nintendo’s business, rather than the practical business side.
Currently the duties of Iwata are being assumed by Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto, but analysts believe Takeda-san will step into the role that Satoru Iwata filled at the company, due to having a similar background. Nick Parker of Parker Consulting is quick to point out the strengths of Takeda, mentioning that the upcoming hardware release for Nintendo will be a time where good leadership and corporate experience are better for the company’s long term growth.
The obvious two choices are Takeda-san or Miyamoto-san, the former a hardware technology company veteran, the latter, the king of Nintendo first party content. Although it would be a romantic dream to have the company lead by the father of Mario, I think Takeda-san has more corporate experience and really understands hardware; it was he who argued for a new interface for the Wii rather than just a faster Gamecube with better graphics.
Mike Schramm of Qualitative Insights at EEDAR believes the same. He believes that Genyo Takeda is also the best choice to fill the role, but if it doesn’t go to him, he believes that Nintendo will hire inside the company and will choose a candidate that has the same programming background that Iwata came from as he moved up the corporate rank.
Genyo Takeda… has a similar trajectory in the company as Iwata (from programmer to manager to executive). Takeda is likely a lead candidate for the job. Nintendo also has a number of executives on its board of directors who also could step up into the spot. It’s very unlikely that the company would hire someone from outside Japan or from another corporation, as Nintendo doesn’t need to (and shouldn’t want to) make waves with this appointment. Most likely it’ll be a senior Japanese executive at the company, ideally someone who has had a hand in game development at some point.
While it seems most analysts are preferring Takeda over Miyamoto, it’ll be interesting to see what Nintendo does to fill this leadership gap over the course of the coming months, especially with a new console launch on the horizon.
