Mario finally won after 40 years !
I’d have been happy with a headline that was simply, “So long, gay Bowser!”
I don’t know why the headline isn’t “Ain’t That a Peach: Bowser Loses Yet Another Kingdom”
Variety! Give this man (Man? Woman?)
GIVE THIS PERSON THE JOB! They’re clearly better at it.
I’m wondering if this is due to internal turmoil over ICE. Bowser knowing he will have to navigate more things like this if it goes unanswered, but also a reaction might draw the ire of a government with an entire national budget to fight with, and the back and forth with home office is finally too much pressure.
That said, the new ceo will be the former head of Marketing because of-fucking-course. More “line can go up forever” promises to shareholders.
ICE? Bowser? What am I missing here?
Not specifically trying to wade into politics so I will keep it middle-road.
background
On tuesday, the US federal government posted a video through their immigration enforcement agency (named ICE) featuring the Pokemon Theme song and using the slogan “gotta catch them all” when referring to catching illegal immigrants. They also featured several mugshots as Pokemon cards using the “make a Pokemon card editor” I’m sure we’ve all played with.
Nintendo has, in the past, been very litigious of Pokémon, as they own GameFreak. It came as a bit of a shock when the official statement was that they were not going to do anything. Many people feel that if the current administration was not rebuked properly for the use of Pokemon, it may feel emboldened to begin using other IPs for its marketings.
Additionally, Nintendo branding has come under some…less than positive light between pokemon game issues, lawsuits of palworld, the negativity around the recent “summon and battle” patent, and more even against the very strong sales of the Switch 2 and games. On paper Nintendo of America is doing very well and is profitable, but there may be boardroom drama.
My suspicion is that Doug Bowser of Nintendo US and Nintendo Japan obviously covered these topics in meetings. My statement is that he may just be tired of arguing with the Japan office as a whole and is ready, after only a decade, to retire.
My second remark is that marketing people keep getting promoted to CEO, and have a penchant for constant promises that valuation will always go up and they can make more money, forever. It is a lie so many companies believe, and its both not surprising but still upsetting to see yet another marketing person taking the position.
Thank you
Mr. Bowser is 60 and Ms Pritchard is already lined up to succeed him. This has been planned for a while and I guarantee you it has nothing to do with the ICE thing, which only happened three days ago; Mr Bowser is just taking early retirement.
This is also possible! I could be wrong and this entire succession and even announcement was planned. Still not happy about a marketing guy taking the helm but ah cest la vie.
Sales and marketing is NOA’s primary purpose; they also have customer support and translation departments. As such, it’s to be expected that a matketing person is appointed to lead marketing. Game development mostly happens in Japan. and all the decisions are made in Kyoto.
Nintendo of America president and chief operating officer Doug Bowser will retire Dec. 31 after more than a decade at the company.
He will be succeeded by Devon Pritchard, a nearly a 20-year veteran of the video game industry and long-time Nintendo exec. Most recently, Pritchard served as executive vice president of revenue, marketing and consumer experience at Nintendo of America, overseeing many aspects of the Switch 2 launch this spring. Pritchard will also join the Nintendo of America board of directors and become an executive officer at Japan-based parent company Nintendo.
Additionally, Satoru Shibata will join Nintendo of America as CEO, while continuing his roles as managing executive officer and corporate director and member of the board at Nintendo.
MF was about to step down anyway but still didn’t take a swing at ICE?
That’s a decision for The Pokémon Company and Nintendo’s head office, not NoA.
