Peter Main steps down
Famous Nintendo executive announces his retirement next year
Peter Main, a man whom you may recognise as Nintendo executive veepee of sales and marketing, and a man whose name has appeared on these hallowed pages many times over the last couple of years, has announced his decision to step down as of February 1st next year. His retirement is being scheduled so that he won't miss the crucial launch of the next-generation GameCube. Main joined Nintendo in 1987, and has dealt with the rise and fall of many Nintendo consoles. He's seen the enormous success of the NES and Super NES, the extraordinary growth in console RPG popularity was more or less squarely down to the SNES, pun intended, and during his reign, the Game Boy has become the biggest selling console of all time, with over 100 million units shipped before its successful relaunch as Game Boy Advance. His replacement will be Peter MacDougall, current Nintendo of Canada president, who joined Nintendo in 1989. Current Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa described Main as an "industry legend", saying that most of the day to day business practices of the sales/marketing exec were invented by him over the last 15 years. MacDougall, who will take charge in February next year, also met with praise from Arakawa. "His breadth of success is a distinct asset given the global nature of Nintendo's business," he told IGN. Related Feature - GameCube: The Science Bit