Tears of the Kingdom Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi Debuts on Variety500 List
Posted on December 27 2023 by Rod Lloyd
Every year, American publication Variety recognizes the “the 500 most influential business leaders shaping the global media industry” with a feature known as Variety500. Each year’s Variety500 index includes the biggest names in the international media industry, including executives, creatives, financiers, and performers from all major media sectors.
In addition to the leading figures in the film and television industries, Variety500 spotlights those in the video game industry. Since its launch in 2017, we’ve seen Variety500 recognize the likes of Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa, Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser, Sony Interactive Entertainment President & CEO Jim Ryan, and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer.
Six game industry figures debuted on the Variety500 index in 2023, including Bethesda’s Todd Howard, Remedy’s Sam Lake, and Namco Bandai’s Nao Udagawa. Most notably for our audience, the 2023 edition of Variety500 also recognized Hidemaro Fujibayashi of Nintendo EPD, Director of Tears of the Kingdom.
Declaring it “hard to find someone more essential to the success of the Nintendo Switch than Fujibayashi,” Variety cited the director’s work on Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom when justifying his placement in Variety500. The magazine notes that, in maintaining the overwhelming success its predecessor, Tears of the Kingdom sold more than ten million copies in its first three days and nearly 20 million by the end of September.
It’s hard to argue with that justification. What do you think? Do you agree with Fujibayashi’s placement on Variety500? Let us know in the comments!
Source: Variety (via My Nintendo News)
Rod Lloyd is the Editor-In-Chief at Zelda Dungeon, overseeing the news and feature content for the site. Rod is considered the veteran of the writing team, having started writing for Zelda Informer in 2014 as a Junior Editor. After ZD and ZI officially merged in 2017, he stepped into the Managing Editor role and has helped steer the ship ever since. He stepped up to lead the writing team as Editor-In-Chief in 2023.
You can reach Rod at: rod.lloyd@zeldadungeon.net
