As reported by Polygon and Kotaku. Satoru Iwata has passed away on July 11, 2015 he was the fourth president of Nintendo. He had missed the last few E3 conferences due to health reasons. Last year, Iwata did not attend E3 on advice from his doctor not to travel overseas. Later in the month, he underwent surgery to deal with a growth found in his bile duct, which in a note to company shareholders he acknowledged could be difficult to treat.
The official word from Nintendo PR
The statement reads:
Nintendo Co., Ltd. deeply regrets to announce that President Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015 due to a bile duct growth.
“A talented programmer, Iwata first joined Nintendo’s HAL Laboratory in the 1980s, where he worked on games like Balloon Fight and EarthBound. He became a Director of the company in 2000, and in 2002 was appointed as only the fourth President of Nintendo when he succeeded Hiroshi Yamauch” – Kotaku
“Iwata was the first president of Nintendo not related to its founding Yamauchi family. He cultivated an approachable personality through company Q&As (called “Iwata Asks”) and appearances such as the latter-day Nintendo Direct video series, in which he spoke directly to the millions of video gamers spanning multiple generations who loved his company’s characters and games.” – Polygon
We will miss this king of video games, and we are still hopeful for the future of Nintendo. Rest in Peace my gamer friend.
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