February 23^rd, 2002 (12:00am) - Nintendo Company President Hiroshi Yamauchi to retire by June.

Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi (74 years old) announced at a stock holder’s meeting that he, having served as president for the last 53 years, will retire by June. 1983 was the year that the Family Computer was released, reviving the Game player market. Nintendo had gone from a Hanafuda Card company to an International Game Maker company.

According to Yamauchi, he had planned to retire 2 years ago while the company was on top. But, because of various management reasons, he had extended his retirement plans.

Although a successor has not been confirmed yet, a collective leadership is being discussed. "From now on, Nintendo will not be run on the strength of a single person".

Yamauchi dropped out of Waseda University in 1949 to succeed his grandfather and become the 3rd president of Nintendo. Under his leadership, the Famicom caused an explosive boom in the video game industry and Pokemon game soft propelled Nintendo to be leader of the portable game market. Yamauchi is a majority holder of the American League Seattle Mariners. [Kazuyuki Hyodou] (Mainichi Shinbun)