Posted Sun Jul 12, 2015 at 05:46 PM PDT by Connor Sears
Nintendo releases short statement about Iwata's July 11 passing.
One of the game industry's living icons, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, has died. According to a short statement issued by Nintendo, Saturo died July 11 due to a bile duct growth, He was 55 years old.
Iwata served as Nintendo's fourth president starting in May 2002. He was also the CEO of Nintendo of America starting in June 2013. Throughout his time at Nintendo, Iwata became one of the company's public faces through his frequent appearances in the Nintendo Direct news videos. He also hosted the Iwata Asks series of developer interviews. Before joining Nintendo's corporate ranks, Iwata worked with HAL Laboratory, the developer behind Nintendo games like 'EarthBound' and the 'Kirby' series.
Prior to his leadership roles at Nintendo, Iwata was instrumental in personally developing several HAL titles. In his leadership role, Iwata has been credited with pushing the envelope for the last decade plus, a period which has seen the release and enduring success of platforms like the DS and Wii. There was a point where digital titles and online connectivity appeared to be an afterthought, but that has completely changed in recent years. Even now, Nintendo's future endeavors, which include new hardware, titles, and even the addition of a new platform, have been shaped in part by Iwata.
In Iwata's place, Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto will both serve as representative directors and senior managing directors.
Source: Nintendo
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