Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo has just passed away - aged 55
Satoru Iwata initially began as a programmer, having begun at HAL Laboratories, developing titles such as Kirby and Earthbound. After becoming acquainted with then-director of Nintendo, Hiroshi Yamauchi, he was offered a position in 2000 at Nintendo and succeeded Yamauchi as the president of Nintendo.
Throughout Mr. Iwata's tenure at Nintendo, he spearheaded many different and unique gaming experiences for fans all over the world to reach - mainly, the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii console. Mr. Iwata also garnered much praise for his down-to-earth appearances in the Nintendo Direct announcements and through a series of interviews called Iwata Asks, in which a round table is conducted with developers to talk and look more closely at Nintendo titles.
Lately, Mr. Iwata has seen his share of struggles with the Nintendo Wii U, but looked forward to a brightening horizon with the Nintendo NX and the DeNA platform. It's truly saddening to think that he won't get to witness this dream coming to fruition. He will, however, be remembered for his contributions and for making gaming accessible to a worldwide audience.
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