Pros:
-He is not laying off people, and being a developer himself he has insight on what makes his employees tick
-He has the company focus on quality games rather than mere quantity and monetization
-Expanding Nintendo (at least in Japan)
-Somewhat improved the situation for Gamecube
-Ended the Game Boy Advance with grace
-Launched the immensely successful and profitable DS line of systems
-Launched the immensely successful and profitable Wii system
-Turned 3DS around in a fairly quick manner
-Has fairly good relationship with Japanese third-parties (especially recently)
-Decent management of money, hirings, and resources

Cons:
-Lack of focus on Western advertisement
-Lack of relationship with Western third-parties
-Mistake with launching 3DS at such expensive levels with such few games
-Wii U's launch and current situation
-Terrible Network services
-Lack of focus on other multimedia and device functionality
-Lack of Western expansion
-Delays!

Other things to take into account:
-If Iwata resigns or is fired Nintendo's shareholders will most likely elect someone who takes Nintendo software-only and into smartphone territory (quantity rather than quality) and lays-off much of the workforce in order to restructure. As a person who deeply likes Nintendo's games and talent I feel it would be a great loss if such a change were to take place (such a change at Sega and Atari not only caused them to drop hardware, but it also caused many of their IPs to die because the company could adapt to developing on so many platforms with a fragmented user base)

-Many of cons I stated can be dealt with at other portions of Nintendo (I am really looking more towards changes at NOA and NOE with their constant marketing failures).


Based on this I give Iwata a big fat Aye!

But it does not matter what I think, if he fails to give shareholders an operating income this year he will either resign or they will fire him, and even if he does give them an operating income even then I believe he will be at great risk of losing his position (shareholders have been known to make quick choices and they have their own levels of what is satisfactory and what is not; and with Mr. Yamauchi gone I feel there are fewer people who can protect Nintendo's management [maybe his family will, but that is not certain]). It is sad for me to say this but I feel Nintendo's days of focusing on quality is at risk of falling short unless Iwata presents shareholders with decent financial numbers (I will certainly be watching Nintendo's IR page on Jan 30th because those financial numbers and the April numbers will be a good indicatation on whether Iwata will be re-elected come this June).

Aye I guess. Getting rid of Iwata isn't going to do anything, some other old man who's complete out of touch with reality is going to replace him. Let me know when they get rid of the entire upper management.

If I'm not mistaken, Mr.Yamauchi owned more then 70% of all Nintendo shares. I assume these shares are now in the hands of his family, meaning that they basically have the final say if Iwata goes or leaves and I highly doubt that they're going to fire him. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

No Mr. Yamauchi had around 10% which was given to his family. It should also be mentioned that most regular public shareholders have non-voting shares in Nintendo.

Source: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/stock/information/index.html

Nay. Everyone there needs to step down and focus on making games, and different people need to take charge. I don't know who these people would be, as this is a bit of a dream scenario, but it would benefit the company greatly. These guys get by with the fact that they occasionally make great games, but they pretty much have no actual business sense. Let them make the games and come up with ideas while someone who knows what they're doing runs the actual business and makes the final decisions.

And don't get me wrong, I love the guy. But him and Shiggy really don't know what the gamers actually want, and if they do, they refuse to give it to us at every turn. If they started to run a different company where they didn't actually make games and just ran the business, they would run it into the ground with their lack of common sense.

Ok, thank you for the correction. But if most public shareholders can't vote, wouldn't that still put the family of Mr.Yamauchi as one of the most influencial investors in the company? Since I am assuming that they do have the power to vote.

I can't argue with that.  Since Yoshida took over at World Wide Studios, they've had a herd of failures but have also had a great deal of critical and commercial success.  That's a hell of a lot better than the corporate Sony of old.

I see this same kind of thing in sports a lot and it really puzzles me.  Fans will yell and scream to get rid of a good-but-not-great player or coach, which is fine and dandy, but they usually fail to mention a way to get a better replacement.  Do they really want the backup as the starter?  Do they think an elite player is just hanging around waiting for a phone call?  The question isn't just about Iwata, it's also about a superior alternative being ready to take over.  Do we really know if that's the case?  I certainly don't see Nintendo launching one of these big searches for the next rising-star CEO of the corporate world.

Now, that being said, there are a lot of problems that Iwata and Nintendo need to address.  The Wii follow-up really, honestly should have done better than it has.  Nintendo has made improvements in some areas but they still cling to out-dated policies and models in other areas.  I think Iwata should probably be given a chance to fix the Wii U situation.  However, if it looks like the next hardware cycle is going to follow the same path then he should probably be given a retirement party.

Iwata is a good head for the company, not just an unfeeling galleon figure like so many other CEO's, he also actually has a lot of knowledge on several fields outside of the sheer business aspect. He and the entire company seems to have lost their way this gen but that's not a reason to fire him. If anything; he deserves to be given massive credit and at least one more shot because of the Wii's success.
Iwata should stay at the helm for the 9th gen effort, he has shown his worth, a lot more so than other heads of Nintendo in my opinion, look at the Wii/DS days, even the Gameboy and NES looks feeble next to this, especially factoring in actual competition these days.

Iwata; straighten your tie, get your shit together and carry on.

No problem :D, the Yamauchi family should be quite influential but we do not know the individual memeber's positions on members (their position should be more clear in January). Moreover, while common stock is has little power, there are banks and trust accounts in which the shareholders have powerful voting rights.   

Aye, from me.

The problem is not the Japanese side of the things, is the west one. NOA should get a new leader that can bring together more support from this side of the pond, someone who can cater to the game developers and publishers of the west, who can sign deals like Hyrule Warriors, and Bayonetta 2.