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Papacheeks · Apr 27, 2017

JordanN said:
Wasn't it the opposite?

Peter Moore and Tom Kalinske were constantly arguing with SEGA of Japan's operations.

Yup.

Kalinske is the reason Sonic even is popular as he is. Ecco the dolphin was also because of him pushing. The best years of Sega were because Sega of america got out from under Sega of Japan's shadow and did their own thing, even when Japan said no.

JB2448 · Apr 27, 2017

The Omega Man said:
Many Japanese executives from SONY like Kaz and Yoshida have studied abroad and learned English this made them more sensible and aware of global tendencies and practices. I don't think that's the case Nintendo with executives, besides the late Iwata, I don't think any of Nintendo's top executives speak English.

Kimishima can absolutely speak English and has multiple decades of international experience.

crinale · Apr 27, 2017

Sony's gaming division is now Western company.

etrain911 · Apr 27, 2017

SCEA has more autonomy than Nintendo's American branch. It is unfortunate, because I feel like if Nintendo's American branch got back the autonomy they had enjoyed previously, a lot of the bad decisions being made wouldn't be.

Oersted · Apr 27, 2017

The Omega Man said:
Many Japanese executives from SONY like Kaz and Yoshida have studied abroad and learned English this made them more sensible and aware of global tendencies and practices. I don't think that's the case Nintendo with executives, besides the late Iwata, I don't think any of Nintendo's top executives speak English.

Sanwa BankEdit

Kimishima worked for 27 years for Sanwa Bank. Kimishima dealt with corporate planning, international business development, corporate communications and promotions.

During his 27-year tenure at Sanwa Bank, Kimishima was posted in New York, New York, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA; San Francisco, California, USA; Central America; and the Caribbean.[6]
NintendoEdit
The Pokémon CompanyEdit

Kimishima was The Pokémon Company's Chief Financial Officer. He was appointed in 2000.
Pokémon USA Inc.Edit

In 2001, Kimishima was appointed president of Pokémon USA Inc.
Pokémon games

.

Nanashrew · Apr 27, 2017

The Omega Man said:
Many Japanese executives from SONY like Kaz and Yoshida have studied abroad and learned English this made them more sensible and aware of global tendencies and practices. I don't think that's the case Nintendo with executives, besides the late Iwata, I don't think any of Nintendo's top executives speak English.

Kimishima has as well, though he's just recently become the president of NCL we still don't know too much of the things he'll do in his tenure. Previously he worked at NoA trying to salvage the problems NCL made with the GameCube. He also did a lot for Pokemon and the GBA. He was also the person to recognize the problems with the Wii U and why it would likely fail.

WhiteRabbitEXE · Apr 27, 2017

fireflame said:
Given the american market is big(apparently bigger than Europe) what stops Nintendo from giving more autonomy to NoA?

Nintendo's American market is by far it's largest market, so it always baffles me why NOA gets so little say so often, and why NCL often focuses on the Japanese market first. Like, they produced as many or more Famicom Classics as they did NES Classics for the US, despite the US having bigger demand. When America was having major amiibo shortages NCL was talking about trying to improve demand in Japan rather than diverting extra stock to America. And a lot of decisions about their hardware and software is targeted towards Japanese sensibilities, to the detriment of the US market (see: online and Other M).

Then again, when Reggie gets his say he vetoes Xenoblade for years soooooo

Namegoes_Here · Apr 27, 2017

fireflame said:
Given the american market is big(apparently bigger than Europe) what stops Nintendo from giving more autonomy to NoA?

Nintendo stops themselves. Considering that Sony has had major presence from multiple categories in the west since the 50s, that previously built infrastructure probably help in building Sony's communication culture. Nintendo seems to still run like the inflated family business that it was for a large portion of it's history.

DooMAGE · Apr 27, 2017

because they needed to increase the PR in 500% after they fucked up in the famous 2011 PlayStation Network outage fiasco.

Marcel · Apr 27, 2017

The Japan branch says jump and the North American branch asks how high. That's how it's been for a long time with Nintendo and I don't see any reason why that would change considering where they're at right now.

But if you feel they should change the best way to do that is probably withholding your wallet if you live in the west.

kitchenmotors · Apr 27, 2017

Namegoes_Here said:
Nintendo stops themselves. Considering that Sony has had major presence from multiple categories in the west since the 50s, that previously built infrastructure probably help in building Sony's communication culture. Nintendo seems to still run like the inflated family business that it was for a large portion of it's history.

Which in some ways can hold them back, but I think keep them in check as well.

We really don't want a situation like Sega where the American and Japanese parts of the company were always at odds and never on the same page, which led to disaster.

Papacheeks · Apr 27, 2017

Marcel said:
The Japan branch says jump and the North American branch asks how high. That's how it's been for a long time with Nintendo and I don't see any reason why that would change considering where they're at right now.

But if you feel they should change the best way to do that is probably withholding your wallet if you live in the west.

Well if they want to be successful in all territories, and have games sell with a attach-rate close to or at least decent like Zelda they need to change.

Especially with all the different aspects of gaming they make weird decisions on.

The reason Splatoon exists is because of change in development leadership.

Nanashrew · Apr 27, 2017

Marcel said:
The Japan branch says jump and the North American branch asks how high. That's how it's been for a long time with Nintendo and I don't see any reason why that would change.

Sad thing is that it wasn't always like that. NoA had some form of autonomy and even had their own development branch that made more games outside of just those Mario Vs Donkey Kong games.

The Omega Man · Apr 27, 2017

JB2448 said:
Kimishima can absolutely speak English and has multiple decades of international experience.

Oersted said:
.

Nanashrew said:
Kimishima has as well, though he's just recently become the president of NCL we still don't know too much of the things he'll do in his tenure. Previously he worked at NoA trying to salvage the problems NCL made with the GameCube. He also did a lot for Pokemon and the GBA. He was also the person to recognize the problems with the Wii U and why it would likely fail.

Well, I stand corrected, I didn't know he speaks English (never seen a video of him doing so).
With a guy like him at the head of Nintendo I hope Nintendo becomes more of a global company and also more aware of global tendencies.

jdmonmou · Apr 27, 2017

UnemployedVillain said:
No, it reveals the relationship with less than a handful of developers. We can easily find articles for many more with nothing, but positive things to say. I'll say it again, people need to stop attributing a few people to a large problem. It's especially ironic since people here SHAT on Polygon for doing the same thing (taking a few devs comments as large scale sentiment)

But there is a problem. This is evidenced by the fact that Nintendo has less support from developers than Xbox or PS4. I don't see how you can ignore the complaints from developers that highlight reasons for that. Nintendo really needs to improve their developer and publisher relations department if they have one.

Charles Brandon · Apr 27, 2017

Underneath it all I can't help but think that, amongst the visionaries on the Nintendo board, there are a fair few honest-to-goodness dickheads with the odd moron thrown in.

I said myself that they are an old fashioned company but even old fashioned companies can have the good sense to at least consider the needs of their other markets, especially when those markets dwarf their home market.

They are an odd bunch.

The Horror the horror · Apr 27, 2017

JordanN said:
Wasn't it the opposite?

Peter Moore and Tom Kalinske were constantly arguing with SEGA of Japan's operations.

My point was that giving NoA more autonomy would create more confusion and conflict between the two regions unless a capable mediator (i.e., President) with strong cultural ties and awareness to both East and West can still the waters. I don't think Tatsumi Kimishima is that person, but in his defense I don't think Iwata was the right man for it either. As it stands now, there is no confusion or conflict because everything is owned by one voice.

WillyFive · Apr 27, 2017

Patrick Klepek said:
Sony US has more power and autonomy than Nintendo US.

Pretty much this. During the NES/SNES/N64 days they had complex relations with partners in the West, from having western exclusives and getting a ton of 3rd party support from the West, but now they have all but deteriorated when NoA became more and more subservient to the main HQ.

Jumeira · Apr 27, 2017

Sony largely keep with the times and are open. Theyre happy to pass ownership and power outside of Japanese. Nintendo as a business is one of the most backwards company's around regarding communication and sharing power. TBH I find this to be endemic of East Asian companies. I worked directly with one of the biggest company's in Singapore and the amount of nonsensical rules employees (and partners) had to obey would leave anyone from the west scratching thier head with disbelief. It's like they accept sub optimal processes with pride.

Nanashrew · Apr 27, 2017

The Horror the horror said:
My point was that giving NoA more autonomy would create more confusion and conflict between the two regions unless a capable mediator (i.e., President) with strong cultural ties and awareness to both East and West can still the waters. I don't think Tatsumi Kimishima is that person, but in his defense I don't think Iwata was the right man for it either. As it stands now, there is no confusion or conflict because everything is owned by one voice.

Kimishma is a businessman so I'm sure he does understand the differences in cultures. There should be good blood with NoA too as Kimishima was the former president before Reggie became NoA president in 2006. He's lived in America for a long time as well when he worked as a banker and for Pokemon USA.

fireflame · Apr 27, 2017

Jumeira said:
Sony largely keep with the times and are open. Nintendo as a business is one of the most backwards company's around regarding communication and change.

But on the other hand we often read that they want to innovate, change things(the dual screen idea, the touch screen feature on ds, motion controls with wii) so it feels a bit paradoxical that communication does not follow the same philosophy.

WaterAstro · Apr 27, 2017

Nintendo is centered in Japan. They have developers in NA, but they go through Japan's decisions.

Sony separate their business in each region, but still have them collaborate. It makes each region have to support themselves instead of looking up to suits in Japan for decisions.

ErasureAcer · Apr 27, 2017

There's a reason why Reggie's is the crap diner in Seinfeld.

Art imitates life.

Papacheeks · Apr 27, 2017

ErasureAcer said:
There's a reason why Reggie's is the crap diner in Seinfeld.

Art imitates life.

LOL.

Nanashrew · Apr 27, 2017

ErasureAcer said:
There's a reason why Reggie's is the crap diner in Seinfeld.

Art imitates life.

Reggie isn't too much at fault here since the shift in how NCL began approaching things in the Wii era. GC era, we got stuff from NST (NoA's development division) like 1080 and Wave Race, we don't get those anymore. Instead they've become mishandled due to the power shift and only make Mini Mario games and some apps.

protomouse · Apr 27, 2017

Sony Interactive Entertainment is an American company, with western management, and a massive focus/spending on the west and third parties.

Nintendo is still a Japanese company, with the traditions of a Japanese company, Japanese management, and an outlook for the Japanese industry, and a fairly conservative spender.

They are two quite different cultures.

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