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Satoru Iwata, president and CEO of Nintendo, the leading game company of Japan, passed away in Tokyo on July 11 due to complications from a bile duct tumor.
Satoru Iwata’s Achievements During His Time at HAL Laboratory
In 1982, after graduating from a university in Tokyo, Iwata entered video game software company HAL Laboratory. There, he developed as a programmer during the Famicom days on such games as Balloon Fight.
In 1993, Iwata was promoted to president of the company. He helped bring to the world countless hit titles that are still highly popular even to this day, including the Kirby series, the Super Smash Bros. series, and game designer/copy writer Shigesato Itoi’s RPG Mother 2.
Contributing to the Industry’s Success Through Developing Innovative Game Consoles
In June of 2000, Iwata was promoted to a head position at Nintendo. In May 2002, he was selected as president, after which he brought forth the handheld gaming device Nintendo DS, which massively contributed to multiplying the population of gamers, as well as saw the previously cancelled Mother 3 to fruition in April 2006.
In November of that same year, the innovative game console Wii launched. With intuitive controls using a wireless remote-type controller, and offering content for everyday life through the Internet, the Wii contributed greatly to the spread of family video game consoles that could be enjoyed by players of all ages, regardless of skill level.
Illness and Sudden Passing
In June 2013, Iwata was promoted to CEO of Nintendo of America Inc. During Iwata Asks, in which Iwata himself interviewed game developers, and the segment Nintendo Direct, which distributed PR videos for upcoming games, Iwata acted as both host and commentator, and aside from his responsibilities as CEO, continued to be center stage in game development as well.
In June 2014, it was reported that a tumor in Iwata’s bile duct had been discovered and operated on. After a short break, Iwata returned in October of that year. However, he was absent from this year’s E3, the world’s largest gaming convention, held in June.
Along with the news on Iwata’s passing, it was also announced that Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto would both now be the company’s representative directors.
Throughout his life, Iwata continued to contribute to the expansion of the gaming population. The untimely passing of Iwata, who led Nintendo with both the spirit of a developer and a fan of gaming, is a shock to not just gamers, but to everyone.
Source: KAI-YOU
Source article written by Kodak Kawaguchi
