Rumour: Infighting in Nintendo Management Leads to Scheming to Get Rid of Iwata

[prayformojo]

cycycychris said:

Disclaimer: Take this report with a HUGE grain of salt. Although the original source is in Japanese and is reputable, the translation is unconfirmed and me not be completely accurate.

According to a new report released by the Japanese Business Journal, there is infighting currently raging amongst the Nintendo upper management.

“Among management, there’s a shared recognition that “Iwata is the culprit”. That is, in the company, there is a strong desire to make popular games such as “Super Mario” etc. for smartphones, but Iwata is vetoing this very strongly. Iwata, continually repeating that “Nintendo’s strength is in unified development of game hardware and software”, stubbornly rejects the “net”, and fixates over “game consoles”, possibly because of his pride as a former developer. With the death last fall of the long-reigning company founder Hiroshi Yamauchi, there is nobody left who can defy Iwata. There are frequent rumors that part of the management is scheming to get rid of Iwata.”

According to the report, a lot of the management that has been with Nintendo for a while also feels that Iwata is an “outsider” due to his origins at HAL Laboratory rather than actually at Nintendo. Due to this, many are calling for Yamauchi’s first son to be President of Nintendo rather than Iwata.

Once again, this translation is unconfirmed, but it may mean that although Iwata’s excellent approval rating of 80% has most of stock-holders satisfied, the upper management may not be so happy with the President.

http://nintendoenthusiast.com/news/report-infighting-nintendo-management-leads-management-scheming-get-rid-iwata/

 

Very interesting.

If this report is true, I like Iwata even more.