Let's talk, not about Nintendo's financial woes, but about it's president.  Love him? Hate him?  Is he a visionary?  Past his prime?  What is the best thing about him as President of Nintendo?  What are his worst qualities?  Is the Wii U disaster completely his fault and do you think he can turn things around?

Was smart enough to know when to divert the company from a battle it could not win last gen and struck gold with a bubble. Did not realize it was a bubble, had no future plans, got lazy and never thought of any new ideas. Is now in a position where they were forced to enter the modern gaming specs and has zero idea of how to handle it. Right now he is a lost puppy

And yes he has that I want to pet him quality. But it may be time to put this dog down... demote him not kill him, jeeze I would never suggest that, that is horrible (do it Miyamoto ).

Dvader said:

Was smart enough to know when to divert the company from a battle it could not win last gen and struck gold with a bubble. Did not realize it was a bubble, had no future plans, got lazy and never thought of any new ideas. Is now in a position where they were forced to enter the modern gaming specs and has zero idea of how to handle it. Right now he is a lost puppy

And yes he has that I want to pet him quality. But it may be time to put this dog down... demote him not kill him, jeeze I would never suggest that, that is horrible (do it Miyamoto ).

I say he got lucky, not smart.

I really don't think Nintendo expected anything close to what they got out of the Wii.....they were raising the white flag after the Gamecube because, as I said, they didn't have the balls to go all in. Somehow the flag turned into a rocket launcher and they caught everyone off guard, including themselves. That only works once.

I think he should keep his job. He is good branding, nice muppet. Hire a real COO to get the job done. Fire Reggie, hire a real President for the west.

I think Nintendo's current woe's are much less to do with Iwata, and more with Nintendo as a whole.  According to them, they were experimenting with tablet like controllers before tablets became a 'thing'.  Did Iwata himself decide on all the elements that makes the WiiU what it is today, including all its shortcommings?  I doubt it.  When the 3DS second thumbstick thing was released, word got out that opposing groups within Nintendo had wanted the 3DS to have 2 nubs from the beginning, implying that the design of a console is heavily discussed within Nintendo and thus will always be something of a compromise.

Then again, I don't think Nintendo 'isn't giving it their all.  They're adhering to Gunpei Yoko's philosophy that it isn't the raw power that is the determing factor in a device's success.  The WiiU and it's gamepad have some big flaws however, things not related to horsepower that I would imagine only managed to happen due to some misplaced arrogance or stubbornness on Nintendo's part.  Why doesn't the Gamepad support multi-touch?  And why, in freaking hell, couldn't they be arsed to make the WiiU support up to 4 gamepads all doing different things?  Including those two things would have made Sony and MS, even Valve and Apple piss their pants.  Nintendo could have been leading the way in how we manage our living room entertainment, offering cheap tablet like devices that would be served by one central unit, to be used in concert for local multiplayer or as individual units for enjoying app-like features.

As for my view on Iwata, I do think he is a bit soft for a CEO.  I don't know if he gets the kind of respect people would give Yamauchi.  I doubt it really.  He may be good at running a company, but he doesn't seem able to turn that company around to face the modern day obstacles in its path.  On the other hand, I don't know if there is anyone else there that would do a better job.

SupremeAC makes some good points. Its always tough to know exactly what's going on inside Nintendo. It's not like Sony where the heirarchy is very clear. I attribute that to Nintendo being kind of family run for so long.  So it's hard to know exactly the kind of influence Iwata has.

Regardless, I've always been a believer that a good CEO never hangs around more than about 10 years.  The ultimate example I like to give is ex Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Eisner saved Disney in a very dark time when he took over in the mid 80's. At that time they were churning out crappy animated movies, their live action films were stagnent, and even the theme parks were not doing exceptional (EPCOT had recently opened up as the most boring theme park of all time). Eisner came in and did amazing things and completely turned around the company. And while there were a few misteps (bonjour Euro Disney), for the most part Disney was more prosperus than ever and once again creating icons that would stand the test of time as well as creating new theme parks, expanding tv and movie production, and overall just doing great. But the CEO who can fix a company is not necessarily the same one who can maintain propserity over a long term, and by the late 90's there were some new really bad trends were beginning that he created, and by the mid 00's his ass was kicked to the curb.

I kind of see Iwata in the same way. While it's tough to always know exactly what goes on in Nintendo, it's fair to say that he was a part of the huge gamble that was the Blue Ocean strategy that lead to the development of the DS and the Wii. He gave the company a new direction that led to huge success which was completely needed at the time. Once Nintendo was on top of the mountain though.... well I think we all know how that's turned out. Maybe it was time for a different direction and he just wasn't the guy to take it there. And maybe it's time for a new guy now.

I like Iwata, but he fucked up by cancelling the Vitality Sensor. That was their golden ticket. If the Wii U had launched with the Vitality Sensor instead of that Upad, then I believe the Wii U would have skyrocketed just like the Wii did in 2006. Wii Vitality -- that's what the console should have been called.

bugsonglass said:

Iwata is a VGPress member.  He deserves the right to speak for himself

True...where is he? Likely readying his post-firing lifestyle.