Nintendo Of America CEO Iwata Passes Away At Age 55

The gaming industry has lost one of its most prominent figures this weekend with the passing of Nintendo of America's CEO, Satoru Iwata.

Iwata began his career in the video game industry at a young age, working for Japanese company HAL Laboratory Inc. While there, Iwata helped develop several titles including Mother and Kirby. These games were considered great successes for the company, and he eventually arose to the level of President at HAL Laboratory.

Iwata later left HAL Laboratory to work for a close strategic partner of the company, Nintendo of America. In June 2000 he was appointed Director at Nintendo of America, and quickly arose to a new position as President in May 2002. He eventually became Representative Director.

Iwata served the majority of his career in this position and oversaw the company through the life of the Nintendo Wii console, while also helping to develop games in the Mario, Legend of Zelda, and Animal Crossing series.

The Nintendo Wii is seen as one of Iwata's greatest accomplishments, as he helped to develop the hardware and unique features that would make the console a success. This came at a time when the major game consoles were becoming increasingly similar, and Iwata felt a strong need for the company to stand out and differentiate itself from its competitors.

The consoles that the Wii competed with focused on powerful hardware to gain an edge in the game console market, but the Wii instead used unique gesture controls that made the system more interactive. People had to actually move around to play games, and not just push buttons on a controller.

This decision was partially influenced by Iwata's personal views. During an interview, Iwata stated that he never wanted to be a bystander, a person who fits into the background and goes unnoticed, and that is what he endeavored to make the Nintendo Wii. This vision helped to make the system the most successful console in the company's history.

Iwata continued to serve Nintendo as a Representative Director through the development of the Nintendo Wii U, after which he was promoted to CEO.

Serving for nearly 15 years, Iwata has made a considerable impact on the development of Nintendo as well as the gaming industry as a whole. He passed away unexpectedly on July 11, 2015 from a bile duct growth, and with him so passes a part of Nintendo.

The company for the time being will be lead by Representative Directors Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto, as the company says goodbye to one of its most influential CEOs. Goodbye Iwata. さよならいわたさん。

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Michael Justin Allen Sexton is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers hardware component news, specializing in CPUs and motherboards.
  • toddybody
    Nintendo hasnt been perfect these past 5 years, but I admire the heck outta' their corporate philosophy and focus on "experiences".

    Iwata seemed like a cool dude, an old school Japanese executive who still liked playing games. R.I.P Sir
    Reply
  • brandonjclark
    One of the great game makers of all time. Thanks for all the fun.
    Reply
  • BiggerBluer
    We all have lost a great mind. I do not own a wii U but I can say that it is a sad day for all video gamers. I hope the communities of all platforms come together to pay respects. rip
    Reply
  • Avus
    what kind of news is that? The article doesn't even mention how he passed away!! Only the first sentence of the whole article is about his death and the rest has NOTHING to do with it. As a news article, it is a epic failed.

    1/10

    Now I need to go another site to read more about it, that is how useless of this article...
    Reply
  • sortinoss
    bile duct Cancer killed Nintendo of Japan President.

    Reggie Fils-Aimé is CEO of Nintend of of America

    (I got of 404 error the time I put this message in ) I don't care to edit it over and over again, sorry if I'd made a type
    Reply
  • IInuyasha74
    what kind of news is that? The article doesn't even mention how he passed away!! Only the first sentence of the whole article is about his death and the rest has NOTHING to do with it. As a news article, it is a epic failed.

    1/10

    Now I need to go another site to read more about it, that is how useless of this article...

    In the second to last paragraph, I clearly state that he passed away from a bile duct growth. Please read the article carefully before commenting.
    Reply
  • Avus
    what kind of news is that? The article doesn't even mention how he passed away!! Only the first sentence of the whole article is about his death and the rest has NOTHING to do with it. As a news article, it is a epic failed.

    1/10

    Now I need to go another site to read more about it, that is how useless of this article...

    In the second to last paragraph, I clearly state that he passed away from a bile duct growth. Please read the article carefully before commenting.

    ok my mistake, i change the rating to 3/10.

    If this is your way to write news article, I suggest you should write news article "carefully" too. I just google "Satoru Iwata" and read the first 10 articles about his death, ALL of them will state his cause of death in first or second sentence. I don't need to "carefully read" through 7 paragraphs of words that are really not related to the news title.
    Reply
  • whassup
    what kind of news is that? The article doesn't even mention how he passed away!! Only the first sentence of the whole article is about his death and the rest has NOTHING to do with it. As a news article, it is a epic failed.

    1/10

    Now I need to go another site to read more about it, that is how useless of this article...

    In the second to last paragraph, I clearly state that he passed away from a bile duct growth. Please read the article carefully before commenting.

    What he pointed out is a valid issue me too feat like him. When people read out death of a person more importantly famous person, they look out for how the person died first than looking for his "History" and his "glorious achievements" which most people here know that. The editorial could be better than this than asking people to read your article carefully.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    I'm at a loss of words... This is really something to be sad about.

    We have really lost someone amazing in the Gaming Industry.

    R.I.P. Mr Iwata.
    Reply
  • CaedenV
    Wow. Earthbound (AKA Mother) was by far my favorite and most played Nintendo game of all time. It is extremely sad to see it's creator pass.
    Reply