Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, 1959 - 2015 ⊟
Nintendo’s president and CEO Satoru Iwata passed away yesterday after a year-long battle with bile duct cancer. He was 55 years old.
Even before taking over the company in 2002, Iwata made a number of massive contributions to the gaming industry, working on series like Kirby, Mother/Earthbound, and Super Smash Bros. while serving as a programmer, producer, and eventually president at developer HAL Laboratory.
At Nintendo, Iwata helped bring even more classic titles to market while also overseeing the launches of the DS, Wii, 3DS, and Wii U. He also served as a charming spokesperson for the company, hosting the Nintendo Direct streams to deliver gaming news to fans, conducting an engaging series of Iwata Asks developer interviews, and even appearing in games.
It’s unclear who will head the company going forward, but Nintendo noted today that longtime employees and current general managers Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda are serving as representative directors.
We’ve all suffered an immeasurable loss with his passing. I’m heartbroken.
