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The gaming world and Nintendo have lost a great figure recently, Mr. Saturo Iwata. He had passed away due to a bile duct tumor on July 11 and many Nintendo fans and even PlayStation and Xbox are mourning over his tragic death. He was a man of many talents, and rather than just sitting here talking about his death, let's talk about his achievements in gaming.
Mr. Iwata had an interest of making video games in his early life. After graduating from his university, he joined game developer HAL Laboratory Inc., who would later create the Kirby, Mother, and Super Smash Bros. games. Iwata worked on games such as Balloon Fighter, Kirby, and Mother, all of them being commercial successes. The company was on the verge of bankruptcy and Iwata was promoted to president of HAL to turn things around. In 2000, Iwata joined at Nintendo as head of its planning division.
Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo's president since 1949, retired in 2002, Iwata was chosen to lead the company. At that time, Nintendo wasn't doing well with the GameCube, due to poor performance compared to the Xbox and PlayStation 2. However, with Iwata's help, Nintendo pioneered in the handheld market with the transition from the Game Boy's small single screen to dual screens with the Nintendo DS. Iwata also helped with the development of Nintendo's 7th generation motion-based gaming console, the Nintendo Wii.
Fortunately for Nintendo, both systems saw massive amounts of sales and popularity, making them highly successful. Their next gaming systems and successors to the Wii and DS were the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, respectively. Although it had a rough start, the 3DS later performed well thanks to a huge library of first-party and third-party games. The Nintendo Wii U, however, struggled at first and still continues to. This was a huge dip in Nintendo's race against Microsoft and Sony. However, Iwata wasn't going to let that continue.
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| The keyword: fun. |
To make-up for the losses, Iwata cut his salary in half to help Nintendo compete better against its rivals, interestingly, Iwata saw the potential of the expanding mobile gaming market and how it would be beneficial for Nintendo. In 2015, a partnership was made between mobile developer, DeNA, and Nintendo to publish mobile games.
Thanks to Iwata's help, relations between Nintendo and fans were improved thanks to social media and created Iwata Asks, a segment where he interviews game developers. Also, "Nintendo Direct" which were online discussions and reveals regarding their projects and games. It was hosted by Iwata and at times featuring many of Nintendo's well-known staff.
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The Nintendo Directs had some nice humor in them at times, however, it was this year's at Nintendo's E3 Digital Event that was funny. The opening featured Shigeru Miyamoto, Reggie Fils-Aime, and Mr. Iwata himself as Muppets, dancing and announcing games, Iwata himself even looked well. Sadly, Mr. Iwata passed away at the age of 55, which he isn't really that old. However, Saturo Iwata's legacy, philosophy, and contributions will and always be remembered in the gaming industry and the Nintendo community.
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| Rest in peace, Mr. Iwata. |
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