Nintendo President Satoru Iwata Passes Away Aged 55

[Steven Bogos]

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata Passes Away Aged 55

Iwata passed away this morning due to a growth in his bile duct.

Some very sad news for you guys this morning: current president and CEO of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, has passed away due to a growth in his bile duct. He was 55 years old.

Iwata's illness had been pretty well known by this point, and it had previously caused him to skip 2014's E3 event [http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/06/05/nintendos-satoru-iwata-wont-be-at-e3-2014-due-to-health-concerns/]. However, he seemed to be on the road to recovery, appearing to be quite healthy in his recent appearances, and even telling fans that he was "progressing well" over Twitter.

Nintendo issued the following, short statement [http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2015/150713e.pdf]:

Nintendo Co., Ltd. deeply regrets to announce that President Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015 due to a bile duct growth.

Iwata first joined Nintendo's HAL Laboratory in the 1980s, where he made a name for himself working on the cult-classic EarthBound. In 2000, he was appointed as a director, and in 2002 he took over from Hiroshi Yamauchi as the fourth president of the company.

Iwata oversaw some of the highest points in the company's life (the DS and Wii era), as well as the more recent failings (Wii U), and, alongside Nintendo of America's Regie Fils-Amie and Shigeru Miyamoto, had developed a kind of cult status as the host of Nintendo's Nintendo Direct initiative.

What makes Iwata's passing even worse is that it happened just as Nintendo was starting to pull itself back up on its feet following years of Wii U disappointment. There's currently no word on who will fill his shoes as the next Nintendo president.

R.I.P Satoru Iwata: 1959 - 2015.

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[Rad Party God]

What?... WHAT!??... Oh my god... Holy shit!... I...
Man, I'm speechless... Just... Fuck, that's extremely tragic.

You'd may think you'll never care about the death of an executive from a videogame company, but man, he just wasn't a generic CEO, he truly was one of the faces of the company and he did so much for the industry as a whole. Whoever takes his place, has some huge shoes to fill.

Please understand, may he rest in piece.

 

[Chefsbrian]

Oh man, that's sad. I wonder what this will do for the future of Nintendo now though....

 

[Raggedstar]

RIP Mr. Iwata. I'm not a huge Nintendo gamer, but respect none the less. Of the few Nintendo events I've watched, he seemed to be a lot of fun despite his position.

We had a close family friend die of bile duct cancer a few years ago. Apparently when you find it, it's usually too late. 55 was roughly the age he passed away too.

 

[Andy Shandy]

At 55, he was far, far too young.

RIP Iwata-san.

 

[ShakerSilver]

I may not have agreed with all his decisions, but he did help in the creation of several great Nintendo titles. Rest in Peace.

 

[Oly J]

So Satoru Iwata is dead...fuck, that sucks, I didn't know the man personally, hell, we didn't even speak the same language, (not natively anyway) but Nintendo is a massive fixture of my childhood and remains an oft-indulged vice for lack of a better term.
They are also one of few companies not rushing broken/buggy games and then peddling bullshit when people complain, and I have a lot of respect for the man for keeping it that way, when he easily could've got away with it because most other companies do it. Say whatever else you like about Nintendo, but their products at least fucking work on release, with Iwata gone, that might not remain true, now that they need a new president.
So R.I.P Satoru Iwata, yours is a loss keenly felt

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

R.I.P Satoru Iwata

Oh man, that's sad. I wonder what this will do for the future of Nintendo now though....

I fear the guy who will take this place may fall into the trap that a lot of Japanese developers are doing right now especially from what I've been hearing from some of the higher-ups there.

I hope you enjoy micro-transactions, day one DLC and crappy pay to win iPhone games

 

[teqrevisited]

Damn, 55 was no age. Rest in peace.

I wouldn't count myself as someone heavily invested in Nintendo but I don't doubt that the effects of his influence have reached me in some way.

 

[JonB]

Ah, shitty. He always seemed like a man who wanted to promote good-hearted, good-intentioned fun. He will be remembered.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Well that comes as a surprise to me. I didn't even know he was ill. RIP Iwata-san, we will miss you.

 

[Chefsbrian]

Oh man, that's sad. I wonder what this will do for the future of Nintendo now though....

I fear the guy who will take this place may fall into the trap that a lot of Japanese developers are doing right now especially from what I've been hearing from some of the higher-ups there.

I hope you enjoy micro-transactions, day one DLC and crappy pay to win iPhone games

Luckily for me, I don't play Nintendo content at all, but it'd be an absolute shame to see his legacy be destroyed through his absence.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

rest in peace you magnificent man

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

A conflicting figure among fans of Nintendo. Under his tenure as President and CEO some decisions were made that were questionable, but all in all it took leadership to take those ideas and turn them into actions.

R.I.P. Satoru Iwata.

 

[Ishal]

....



The man wasn't perfect, and he made a lot of mistakes. But he genuinely seemed to care about the product, and the direction the product was going. I don't know if he was behind the draconian policies that Nintendo practices. I don't know enough about Japanese business culture. But this is sad. 55 is really young. My own father is 67.

I think I'm going to play more Nintendo this week. I was looking for a reason to play Metroid Prime again.

RIP

 

[OuendanCyrus]

Jesus, only 55 years old... It didn't feel that long ago that I was watching him be so full of life in that Digital Event video of him fist fighting Reggie. This is just so sudden...

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Fuck.

He's far too young, and just a really awesome guy from what I've heard about him.

RIP Iwata.

 

[RJ 17]

This must be very awkward for Reggie considering the only expression he's capable of displaying is that creepy smile...

On a more serious note: sad news indeed that he died at such a (relatively) young age. I had been hoping that he would pull through, but it just goes to show how sudden things can all come to an end.

Live for the day my friends, you never know when things will be snuffed out.

 

[Eric the Orange]

He was a rare man of a corporation CEO. A gamer himself who arose from a programing position rather than a management one. Who took steps to make himself a face of a company that made fun games for everyone. I doubt we'll see his like again for some time.