Nintendo President Satoru Iwata Dies at Age 55

Mr. Iwata was not only one of the most recognizable faces, not only at Nintendo, but in the gaming world at large. He began as a simple programmer at HAL Laboratory working on such iconic franchises as Kirby, Pokemon, and Super Smash Bros. He then joined Nintendo in 2000 and became the president of the company just two years later.

During his tenure president of the gaming giant, Nintendo completely revolutionized the gaming industry with platforms such as the Wii and the DS family. Both of these became some of the best selling consoles of all time, truly illustrating the creativity of Mr. Iwata. He also brought a completely new way of presenting news to the world through “Nintendo Direct.” This is a presentation that Mr. Iwata, often accompanied by other people from Nintendo would present news about games currently being worked on as well as entirely new games. What made this format so great for relaying news is not only did it come out every few months giving fans a constant stream of news rather than just a big annual E3 press conference, but also it let the fans connect more with the people at Nintendo by making it a more personal and fun approach to news.

Yesterday, July 12, Nintendo released the statement that he had passed away on July 11 and that it was due to a bile duct infection. Since then, not only people at Nintendo, but other companies, and fans alike have gotten #thankyouIwata trending on all forms of social media. Nintendo of America has even decided not to post on their social media accounts today in remembrance. This truly shows the impact this man had on the world. The fact that rather than a typical rest in peace hashtag, this one says thank you. Mr. Iwata will be severely missed and will always be remembered as a leader, an innovator, but above all else as a gamer who simply wanted to share his passion with the world.