Nintendo Legend Shigeru Miyamoto Considered the Front Runner for CEO

While we are all still mourning the sudden loss of Satoru Iwata, the reality is that the world doesn’t stop turning, and Nintendo must look to the future. According to a report by IGN, Shigeru Miyamoto is considered the front runner for the CEO position, while he and Genyo Tekada are currently running the company. If Miyamoto doesn’t take over, chances are it would be Tekada. The fact they are both running the company right now speaks to how heavily they are both involved in all things Nintendo.

Shigeru Miyamoto had recently stepped back off his old role of supervising all game development so he himself could go back to developing games – with his most recent released work being Pikmin 3 while he also has Star Fox: Zero on the horizon. However, given the circumstances, he may be willing to stop developing games all together to keep Nintendo going strong and set himself up for retirement. Given his age, which is 62 years old (believe it or not), Miyamoto would more than likely represent a transitional CEO rather than a long term solution.

Given that Miyamoto is literally the biggest name at Nintendo and next to Iwata, is one of a handful of people that you could claim “are Nintendo,” it would not be surprising to see him elected for and voted into the CEO of Nintendo of Japan. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Reggie Fils-Aime also take over as CEO of Nintendo of America, as well, since many forget that is also a role Iwata took on a couple years ago.

Personally I don’t know that Miyamoto is the right choice, though he is the obvious gut reaction choice. He’s always been more about creating games, and he even recently backed off hardware development because his latest idea was a failure commercially. Is he ready to lead them with dena? What about the health initiative? I don’t fear for the NX as that was likely well in motion before Iwata’s passing, but what about after that? Will Nintendo games suffer without Miyamoto’s more direct hands on guidance? Does he know how to manage a budget?

No matter what you thought of Iwata as CEO, and I was one that thought he might not have been the right choice, he did bring a source of stability and accountability to the position. Do you think Miyamoto is the best choice right now?

We’ll leave you with Miyamoto’s own words on Iwata’s passing:

“I am surprised at this sudden news and overcome with sadness.

The entire development team at Nintendo will remain committed to our development policy which Mr. Iwata and we have been constructing together and to yield the development results which Mr. Iwata would appreciate.”

Source: IGN