Satoru Iwata, Nintendo CEO, Mourned by Gaming Industry
July 11, 2015 was a day of great loss for the global gaming industry. This was the day that the Chief Executive Officer of one of the world's biggest gaming companies, Nintendo, passed away. The company's President and CEO Satoru Iwata died at the age of 55.
News of the death was announced by Nintendo through an official statement.
"Nintendo Co., Ltd. deeply regrets to announce that President Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015 due to a bile duct growth," it read.
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The report also revealed that the growth had been discovered about two years ago, and that he has been "battling the growth" since its discovery. His absence during the 2014 E3 was said to have been because of this health issues.
Iwata rose from the ranks of the company, starting out as a programmer in the 1980s in the HAL Laboratory. He is known for his successful work with Kirby, as he was the one who created "Dream Land," which was part of the game's debut on the Game Boy in 1992. He was named director in 2000 and was appointed President in May 2002. Under his leadership, he oversaw the launch of the GameCube, the Nintendo DS, 3DS, Wii and Wii U.
It was also during his tenure that he broke tradition by putting much focus on "accessibility and open communication" with the company's fans. He hosted the series "Iwata Asks" which allowed fans to ask questions with regards to game development, which was traditionally a well-kept secret in the company.
According to the report, he was at the helm during the best and the worst times of the company. The best was when Wii experienced a resurgence in the 2000s and the worst was when it launched Wii's successor, the Wii U.
Following his death, bigwigs in the gaming industry mourned the loss of Iwata-san through Twitter. These included Sony's Shuhei Yoshida, Platinum Games' Hideki Kamiya, Daybreak Game Company's John Smedley, Zelda Williams, SWERY, and Treyarch Studios.
