Satoru Iwata has passed away July 11th 2015

[Minato]

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2015/150713e.pdf

News of this just came out. I really can't believe it.

Edit: For those that want to know more about Iwata, this was one of my favorite videos on him. It was taken on 2005 at GDC. Iwata was a genius programmer that accomplished a lot of things.

 

[mario123007]

No way.............

 

[Teran]

True legend RIP

 

[PokemonyeWest]

Just awful

 

[NeonBurrito]

Goddamn. He'll be missed. He did some amazing things. It's a shame he couldn't celebrate Mario's 30th anniversary with Mario Maker.

 

[mario123007]

Probably a shocking news in this video game generation...

 

[Zink Imp]

Thread theme:

This is pretty sad. Went out working till the end. He did all of those Nintendo Directs and who knows what else behind the scenes.

R.I.P good sir.

Edit: Sakurai's twitter

任天堂岩田社長が逝去されました。私にとって前の会社からの上司であり、立場を変え、場所を変えても一番の理解者でいてくださいました。努力家で、人徳者で、いつもバランスがよいまとめと提案を素早く導き出していました。考えられる限り最高のリーダーだったと思います。ご冥福をお祈りします。

— 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) July 13, 2015

 

[Spoice]

Oh wow....I honestly have no words for this. I hope his family are coping, RIP Iwata, you genius man.

 

[mario123007]

Thread theme:

This is pretty sad. Went out working till the end. He did all of those Nintendo Directs and who knows what else behind the scenes.

R.I.P good sir.

Edit: Sakurai's twitter

任天堂岩田社長が逝去されました。私にとって前の会社からの上司であり、立場を変え、場所を変えても一番の理解者でいてくださいました。努力家で、人徳者で、いつもバランスがよいまとめと提案を素早く導き出していました。考えられる限り最高のリーダーだったと思います。ご冥福をお祈りします。

— 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) July 13, 2015

I miss his "Please take a look"...

 

[Twewy]

He's been sent directry to a better place now. Ladies and gents, we've lost a legend.

 

[mario123007]

So... who's going to be the next CEO?

 

[Sari]

So... who's going to be the next CEO?

Apparently either Shigeru Miyamoto or Genyo Takeda (not confirmed yet but that's what everyone is saying).

 

[radio silent]

I honestly couldn't believe the news when I first saw it.

The industry has lost an amazing man. The world has lost an amazing man.

Thank you for everything you've done, Mr. Iwata. May you rest in peace.

 

[mario123007]

Apparently either Shigeru Miyamoto or Genyo Takeda (not confirmed yet but that's what everyone is saying).

Who's Genyo Takeda?

 

[Twewy]

Apparently either Shigeru Miyamoto or Genyo Takeda (not confirmed yet but that's what everyone is saying).

I doubt Miyamoto, the man doesn't really have much business knowledge. He's better off as a designer.

 

[Weedy Spyze]

We probably wouldn't even be posting on this forum right now if it weren't for him. Not to mention the many other games I've played/loved that he played a part in. RIP.

 

[Sari]

Who's Genyo Takeda?

General hardware manager of Nintendo who's been with the company since 1972. He also co-created Punch-Out games.

I doubt Miyamoto, the man doesn't really have much business knowledge. He's better off as a designer.

I think it's just temporary until a new president is found (that's what people are saying at least).

 

[Minato]

We can thank Iwata for releasing Melee on time due to debugging the game for 3 weeks.
http://tay.kinja.com/that-time-satoru-iwata-debugged-i-super-smash-bros-me-1675757029

Also here's some other feats from him

 

[Lily♫]

There's... not much I have to say about this. It's a shock.
It's a reminder that everyone's human, but this is just heartbreaking.

 

[mario123007]

General hardware manager of Nintendo who's been with the company since 1972. He also co-created Punch-Out games.

I think it's just temporary until a new president is found (that's what people are saying at least).

So it may be possible that he will take his place...

 

[ArticulateT]

I saw the news on my twitter feed a few minutes ago. I was astounded, truly blind sided by the news.

I just hope that whoever has to fill the colossal shoes he left behind can fill them.

 

[mario123007]

 

[SomewhatMystia]

The worst part about this is that the guy died so unexpectedly and so young. Like, I imagine right up until he was in the hospital (and possibly even sometime after because Japan is crazy about work ethic), he was doing this incredibly stressful job of managing a multi-billion dollar, worldwide company.

Even if he did get some time to relax and spend with family in his final days, it wasn't because he got to the age where he could retire and look back fondly on his time with the company.

The real kicker, though? One of the last things he did publicly as the CEO of Nintendo was apologize for E3.

My best wishes go out to his family and those affected by this. Thanks for everything, Mr. Iwata.

 

[finalark]

I feel like Iwata was the only executive in the gaming world who really understood what a game should be above all else: fun.

Every E3 you hear other devs talk about how "epic" and "cinematic" their games are. But rarely did they ever talk about how fun they were.

Iwata was the kind of guy who wasn't afraid to make a goofy video for Smash where he threw a million punches at Reggie at mach speed. Nor was he the kind of guy who objected to becoming a Muppet for E3. I think Iwata was the one person who knew that games should be fun and should be something shared with everyone.

RIP Iwata-san. I think now I finally understand.

 

[mario123007]

I feel like Iwata was the only executive in the gaming world who really understood what a game should be above all else: fun.

Every E3 you hear other devs talk about how "epic" and "cinematic" their games are. But rarely did they ever talk about how fun they were.

Iwata was the kind of guy who wasn't afraid to make a goofy video for Smash where he threw a million punches at Reggie at mach speed. Nor was he the kind of guy who objected to becoming a Muppet for E3. I think Iwata was the one person who knew that games should be fun and should be something shared with everyone.

RIP Iwata-san. I think now I finally understand.

Yeah...

 

[Minato]

Another Iwata thing I wanted to post

 

[radio silent]

Another Iwata thing I wanted to post

Heh, I went back and watched that soon after I heard the news.

Helps to have a laugh.

 

[mario123007]

Heh, I went back and watched that soon after I heard the news.

Helps to have a laugh.

Decided to throw away my sad Mario avatar after watching that video, it gave me the encourage.

 

[MOI-ARI]

Another Iwata thing I wanted to post

Coincidentally was watching that show on YouTube when i heard the news...

I had forgotten about that episode. Thanks for sharing friend. Such a great man and programmer.

 

[Twewy]

Itoi has said a statement about the death:

“When I’m parting with a friend, regardless of the circumstances, I find it best to just say, ‘See you later.’ We’ll meet again. After all, we’re friends.

That’s right—nothing unusual about it. I’ll see you later.

You went on a trip far, far away, even though it was planned for many years from now. You wore your best outfit and said ‘Sorry for the short notice,’ though you didn’t say it out loud.

You always put yourself last, after you’d finished helping everyone else. You were so generous as a friend that this trip might be your very first selfish act.

I still can’t grasp what’s happened. It feels like I could still get a light-hearted e-mail asking me out to lunch at any moment—after you’ve made sure lunch wouldn’t disrupt my schedule, of course.

You can invite me out whenever you want. I’ll invite you, too.

So for now, let’s plan on meeting again. You can call me up whenever you like, and I’ll give you a call, too. I still have a lot to talk to you about, and if I come up with any particularly good ideas, I’ll let you know.

So let’s meet again.

No–I suppose we’re already meeting. Right here, right now.”

 

[dezeray112]

Its very sad to hear the news of Iwata's passing.

RIP Iwata and my thoughts are with his family.

 

[Nixon Corral]

Itoi has said a statement about the death:

“When I’m parting with a friend, regardless of the circumstances, I find it best to just say, ‘See you later.’ We’ll meet again. After all, we’re friends.

That’s right—nothing unusual about it. I’ll see you later.

You went on a trip far, far away, even though it was planned for many years from now. You wore your best outfit and said ‘Sorry for the short notice,’ though you didn’t say it out loud.

You always put yourself last, after you’d finished helping everyone else. You were so generous as a friend that this trip might be your very first selfish act.

I still can’t grasp what’s happened. It feels like I could still get a light-hearted e-mail asking me out to lunch at any moment—after you’ve made sure lunch wouldn’t disrupt my schedule, of course.

You can invite me out whenever you want. I’ll invite you, too.

So for now, let’s plan on meeting again. You can call me up whenever you like, and I’ll give you a call, too. I still have a lot to talk to you about, and if I come up with any particularly good ideas, I’ll let you know.

So let’s meet again.

No–I suppose we’re already meeting. Right here, right now.”

I saw this earlier today. This is actually probably the most heart-wrenching thing I've read regarding his passing. Words straight from the heart of a dear friend. Jeez. It's really quite nice, though.

 

[Minato]

I'm reminded of the time when Nintendo was having some issues to the point where it was recommended to downsize or layoff employees. Iwata refused since it would lower company morale in that they won't be making quality products for the people to enjoy if that happened. He decided to cut off part of his pay instead.

Here's another fun Iwata vid I wanted to share

 

[mario123007]

I'm reminded of the time when Nintendo was having some issues to the point where it was recommended to downsize or layoff employees. Iwata refused since it would lower company morale in that they won't be making quality products for the people to enjoy if that happened. He decided to cut off part of his pay instead.

Here's another fun Iwata vid I wanted to share

And just when did you heard the news in the beginning @ Minato ? Didn't you had thought it might have been a fake news? I was really shocked to see you thread's title at first.

 

[Spak]

And just when did you heard the news in the beginning @ Minato ? Didn't you had thought it might have been a fake news? I was really shocked to see you thread's title at first.

It was rumor until this.

 

[mario123007]

It was rumor until this.

Yeah... but ya know, I was still a bit doubtful in the beginning, I just can't imagine Iwata passed away... it was just terrifyin to think at first...

 

[Minato]

And just when did you heard the news in the beginning @ Minato ? Didn't you had thought it might have been a fake news? I was really shocked to see you thread's title at first.

I really didn't want to believe it at first. I literally saw one tweet linking the pdf, even went to NeoGAF where there was a topic but no replies. Then everyone on the internet basically gave shocked responses like I did almost all at once. I wanted to do some quick fact checking before posting since there was fake news with Miyamoto way back.

It's too bad since I really do like Iwata (especially with the Kirby bias he gives lol). I remember last year he gave the sudden news on his condition and said that there were no problems after the surgery. Even changed his Mii to reflect the weight loss he's had because of it. He didn't go to E3 last year along with this year. Nintendo probably downplayed how serious the condition was this whole time, so I really thought he was getting better.

It's crazy how much Iwata was working this past year. He did shareholder meetings and even took down notes of our disappointment for Nintendo's 2015 E3 and said they'd do their best to address the problems. Stress was probably a huge factor in his condition sadly.


After my Vegas trip to Evo, I'll probably be replaying some of the games he was involved with. Most notably Earthbound and Kirby.