Some unfortunate news to report out of the gaming world is the passing of Nintendo’s fourth president, Satoru Iwata. His passing doesn’t seem to be much of a surprise as Iwata had already missed the E3 Conference in 2014 due to health issues.
Iwata had bile removed from his stomach that was being caused by a tumor and Kotaku reports that was the cause of death. This saddens the gaming community everywhere.
Nintendo released a statement announcing Iwata’s passing.
Nintendo Co., Ltd. deeply regrets to announce that President Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015 due to a bile duct growth.
#SatoruIwata made video games a better place, was a great leader, and a great friend to gamers as a whole.
Good-bye. Till we meet again.
— Oliver Campbell (@oliverbcampbell) July 13, 2015
https://twitter.com/toonlunk/status/620385167069347840
https://twitter.com/ImKive/status/620386314114838528
Iwata attended the Tokyo Institute of Technology upon graduating high school and during his time in school, he did freelance work for HAL Laboratory, a subsidiary of Nintendo, until he took a full time position after graduating from college. Iwata worked on iconic games for the Nintendo 64 including Super Smash Bros, Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Stadium, and Pokemon Stadium 2, all games of which he was a producer.
In 2000, Iwata took on a corporate position with Nintendo, leading its planning division. There, he took on an executive producer role on many successful GameBoy Advance and Gamecube games, such as Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire, Super Mario Sunshine, and Star Fox Adventures.
Since taking over as president in 2002, Iwata has helped revolutionize the gaming world by bringing fans the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U. He and the Nintendo team took the next step into the future of gaming by revealing a secret project called the Nintendo NX, a new console that many fans have yet to hear more information on.
Iwata was only 55 years old and we at Campus Sports would like to send our condolences to his family. Thanks for the memories, Mr. Iwata.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to Kotaku
