America and Pokémon expert
Kimishima studied law at the Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, an elite university where people are prepared for the higher echelons of the business world. He worked for the Japanese Sanwa Bank from 1973 to 1998, mainly in the United States. Shortly after he became the head of The Pokémon Company, which created the popular franchise. Over the past year, Kimishima was head of Nintendo’s North American branch.
His knowledge of the American market will serve Nintendo well as he faces the arduous challenge of trying to lure back plenty of gamers that have defected to other platforms, like smartphones. For a long time, Nintendo refused to make games for smartphones, but eventually buckled: in 2016, it will release its first games for smartphones and unsurprisingly, Pokémon will feature heavily in those games.
In his new position, he will be assisted by Genyo Takeda, technology fellow, and Shigeru Miyamoto, creative fellow and the inventor of Super Mario, a series which celebrated its 30th anniversary this weekend.
