Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, has died at 55. Earlier this evening, Nintendo released a brief statement on his Iwata’s passing, saying “Nintendo Co., Ltd. deeply regrets to announce that President Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015 due to a bile duct growth.” The fourth president of Nintendo, Iwata succeeded Hiroshi Yamauchi and was previously a programmer for HAL Laboratory, known for the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. franchises.
Iwata is most well known for hosting the Nintendo Direct events, speaking directly to gamers around the world on what Nintendo is working on. Despite all the issues with the Wii U’s sales, Iwata has stood firm on his company’s practices, refusing to lay off employees and gave himself a significant paycut when Nintendo’s stock prices dropped.
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Born December 6, 1959, Iwata was appointed director at Nintendo in 2000 before taking on the role of president in 2002. He was appointed CEO of Nintendo of America, Inc. in 2013. The two remaining Representative Directors for Nintendo are Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto, both of which are Senior Managing Directors. It is unclear who or when Nintendo will appoint a new president.
The video game community is paying their respects in honoring Iwata and his contributions to the industry across the Internet.
Thank you for everything, Mr. Iwata.
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) July 13, 2015
I had the chance to meet Iwata-san at E3 one year, and he was such a gentleman as I fan boyed out. Today the industry lost a huge force. ? — Larry Hryb (@majornelson) July 13, 2015
