Who Runs Nintendo Now? The Accountant, the Fellow and a New Face in America

Nintendo is a company famous for its characters, not its executives. Most players could name Mario, Link and Pikachu long before they could name the person running the company. But 2026 has been a year of real change at the top of Nintendo, and the people now in charge will shape what happens to Switch 2 over the next few years.

Here is who runs Nintendo now.

The president: Shuntaro Furukawa

Shuntaro Furukawa became Nintendo's sixth president on June 28, 2018, succeeding Tatsumi Kimishima. He is not a game designer. Born in Tokyo in 1972, he studied political science and economics at Waseda University and joined Nintendo in April 1994 as an accountant, spending about a decade at the company's European headquarters.

He rose through corporate planning, joined the board in 2016 and helped oversee the marketing and launch of the original Nintendo Switch. He also sat on the board of The Pokémon Company as Nintendo's representative from 2012 to 2018.

Under Furukawa, Nintendo has had one of the best decades in its history: Switch became one of the best-selling consoles ever, and Switch 2 launched in June 2025 to record early sales. In Japan alone, Switch 2 sold 3.78 million units in 2025, and in the US it was the year's best-selling console with 4.4 million units.

The legend: Shigeru Miyamoto

Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario, Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda, is now 73. He has been a representative director of Nintendo since 2002, and in September 2015, after Iwata's death, he was named Creative Fellow, a role that lets him advise on games without running day-to-day development.

His focus in recent years has been film. He produced The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) with Illumination, and is a producer on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026) and the live-action The Legend of Zelda film, planned for 2027.

America: Bowser hands over to Pritchard

The biggest change came in America. Doug Bowser, president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, retired on December 31, 2025. He joined Nintendo in 2015 as vice president of sales and marketing and became president in April 2019, succeeding the much-loved Reggie Fils-Aimé. (Yes, Nintendo of America was led for six years by a man named Bowser, and the internet never got tired of it.)

His successor, Devon Pritchard, took over on January 1, 2026. She had spent 19 years at Nintendo of America, most recently as executive vice president of sales, marketing and communications, after roles in business affairs, marketing and publisher relations. She also joined Nintendo of America's board and became an executive officer of the parent company in Kyoto. She is the first woman to lead Nintendo of America. On her appointment she said she was "humbled and excited to take on this new role".

The board shuffle

Nintendo's June 2026 shareholder meeting brought quieter changes. The company proposed appointing Yutaka Takenaga, head of its internal audit department, and Chika Saka as an outside director to its audit committee, while three members of that committee, Takuya Yoshimura, Katsuhiro Umeyama and Keiko Akashi, retired.

None of this changes the creative direction, but it shows a company quietly handing over to a new generation, in the boardroom as well as the studios.

Why it matters

Nintendo's leaders tend to stay for a long time, and its culture changes slowly. That makes this year's transitions significant: a new head in the Americas, its biggest market, a legendary developer retiring, and Miyamoto spending more time on films than on games.

WGC's take: the generational handover at Nintendo is happening smoothly, which is exactly how Nintendo likes it. The real test for Furukawa's team is keeping Switch 2 growing as console prices rise. For the company's early history, see Nintendo before Mario.

What to watch

• Devon Pritchard's first full holiday season leading Nintendo of America.
• Nintendo's next results and Switch 2 sales; see our Switch 2 business story.
• Release news for The Legend of Zelda film, the next big Miyamoto production.