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World loses the visionary behind the huge success of the Wii and NDS.
By Sam Machkovech
Satoru Iwata, 1959-2015.
Nintendo of Japan issued a statement on Sunday confirming the death of longtime company president Satoru Iwata on Sunday.
The brief statement, which was also posted at Nintendo's Japanese Twitter account, simply stated that the 55 year old passed away "due to a bile duct growth." Neither the company nor Iwata had spoken about his health issues since the president was forced to skip the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2014; as Kotaku reported last year, Iwata himself eventually responded to fans' concerns about his apparent worsening appearance, telling them he was "progressing well."
Iwata had been a member of the Nintendo development community since joining the company's subsidiary game studio HAL Laboratory in the early 80's, where he worked on such famous franchises as Kirby, Earthbound, and Balloon Fight. In 2002, he succeeded Hiroshi Yamauchi, the company's president during its rise as a video game company. Iwata successfully guided the company into its incredible Wii era. In more recent years, he responded to concerns over disappointing Wii U sales by taking a salary cut.
Ars' Kyle Orland, when he wrote for Gamasutra, covered a key Iwata speech in 2011 about the president's development and leadership philosophy, and about overcoming jealousy of his developer peer Shigeru Miyamoto. "Mr. Miyamoto taught me a painful lesson: Content really is king," Iwata told that year's Game Developer Conference crowd. "His games outsold mine by a huge margin. I found out then that engineering is not quite as important as imagination. To be honest, I was ashamed."
In recent years, Iwata was emphatic about interacting directly, and personally, with the public. He made English-language announcements in the company's many Nintendo Direct videos, and conducted lengthy developer interviews in the "Iwata Asks" series.
Nintendo's statement listed Genyo Takeda and Miyamoto as representative directors and senior managing directors, but it didn't indicate whether either men, or both, would serve as interim presidents in the meantime. No statement has yet been posted about Iwata's death by Nintendo's American arm, on its dedicated press site or its official Twitter account.
By Sam Machkovech
Satoru Iwata, 1959-2015.
Nintendo of Japan issued a statement on Sunday confirming the death of longtime company president Satoru Iwata on Sunday.
The brief statement, which was also posted at Nintendo's Japanese Twitter account, simply stated that the 55 year old passed away "due to a bile duct growth." Neither the company nor Iwata had spoken about his health issues since the president was forced to skip the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2014; as Kotaku reported last year, Iwata himself eventually responded to fans' concerns about his apparent worsening appearance, telling them he was "progressing well."
Iwata had been a member of the Nintendo development community since joining the company's subsidiary game studio HAL Laboratory in the early 80's, where he worked on such famous franchises as Kirby, Earthbound, and Balloon Fight. In 2002, he succeeded Hiroshi Yamauchi, the company's president during its rise as a video game company. Iwata successfully guided the company into its incredible Wii era. In more recent years, he responded to concerns over disappointing Wii U sales by taking a salary cut.
Ars' Kyle Orland, when he wrote for Gamasutra, covered a key Iwata speech in 2011 about the president's development and leadership philosophy, and about overcoming jealousy of his developer peer Shigeru Miyamoto. "Mr. Miyamoto taught me a painful lesson: Content really is king," Iwata told that year's Game Developer Conference crowd. "His games outsold mine by a huge margin. I found out then that engineering is not quite as important as imagination. To be honest, I was ashamed."
In recent years, Iwata was emphatic about interacting directly, and personally, with the public. He made English-language announcements in the company's many Nintendo Direct videos, and conducted lengthy developer interviews in the "Iwata Asks" series.
Nintendo's statement listed Genyo Takeda and Miyamoto as representative directors and senior managing directors, but it didn't indicate whether either men, or both, would serve as interim presidents in the meantime. No statement has yet been posted about Iwata's death by Nintendo's American arm, on its dedicated press site or its official Twitter account.
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