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Businesses Japan Nintendo

Satoru Iwata, Head of Nintendo, Has Died At 55 56

An anonymous reader with the news, announced with a statement released by Nintendo on their homepage, that Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata died of a bile duct growth on the 11th of July, 2015. The news is noted by Kotaku and by Engadget. Wikipedia notes that Iwata was the first of the company's presidents to be unrelated to the Yamauchi family through blood or marriage.
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Satoru Iwata, Head of Nintendo, Has Died At 55

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  • he/she died of:______ is usually left out.
  • by Vyse of Arcadia ( 1220278 ) on Sunday July 12, 2015 @07:48PM (#50095435)
    If someone asked me to name a tech CEO that really new their business, Iwata would have been the first name on my tongue. He played games, he made games, and he knew what made games fun. This is a tragic loss for Nintendo and the gaming industry as a whole.
    • by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Sunday July 12, 2015 @09:38PM (#50095823)
      He was also a model CEO in that he cut his pay last year when the company was not doing well instead of bailing out with a giant golden parachute. He believed in Nintendo and was willing to stick with them through the good and the bad.
      • by Bahamut_Omega ( 811064 ) on Sunday July 12, 2015 @10:48PM (#50096063)

        Satoru Iwata was the kind of guy I could respect. His humility and honesty was actually something to be admired.

        A CEO who actually had the balls to cut his own pay to help the company out. Could also say that he knew his stuff from having worked on the various titles over the years.

        I believe we need more like the late Iwata, and less like the "entitled" chief executives one sees in other areas of the world.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        He also took a paycut for 3DS launch even though 3DS is doing extremely well right now

    • No mod points, but wanted to nod in agreement.

      Sad day for gaming.

      RIP, Mr. Iwata.

    • by RyuuzakiTetsuya ( 195424 ) <taiki@@@cox...net> on Monday July 13, 2015 @10:19AM (#50098825)

      He was also involved with debugging Super Smash Bros. Melee, when he wasn't an engineer anymore.

      He prided himself on being 'CEO of a listed company in Japan with the most knowledge of programming.'

      Source. [nintendoeverything.com]

      He will be missed.

  • Please Understand (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DeanCubed ( 814869 ) on Sunday July 12, 2015 @08:20PM (#50095563)

    He was a great man. Responsible for Pokemon Gold/Silver, Kirby's Dream Land, Balloon Fight, Earthbound, Super Smash Bros., and was CEO starting in the GameCube generation until now.

  • Extra Life... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by theodp ( 442580 ) on Sunday July 12, 2015 @08:28PM (#50095591)

    ...sadly, no 1-up mushrooms [mariowiki.com] in real life.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      ...sadly, no 1-up mushrooms [mariowiki.com] in real life.

      Do you have proof to back up this claim?

  • by Anonymous Coward

    mama mia

  • by Anonymous Coward

    But evidently it came back and got him.

    http://kotaku.com/nintendos-president-had-a-bile-duct-growth-removed-1595179410

    • by DeKO ( 671377 ) <(moc.liamg) (ta) (iramsoleinad)> on Sunday July 12, 2015 @10:31PM (#50096015)

      Cancer is hardly something you "cure". You fight it off, with a painful treatment, in the hopes your body outlives the cancer. Then you keep an eye on it, until it pops back up; rinse and repeat.

      It's entirely possible that at the time he already had a terminal case, and the surgery (and the clear weight loss, possibly due to chemo therapy) only gave him a few more months. And we never heard about it because either he didn't want Nintendo's stocks to be affected by an uncertain future, or maybe he just considered it as his own burden to carry (Japanese culture and all.)

      No doubt Miyamoto will be under pressure to take the position, shoes, since they both shared the same views about the company's direction. Iwata backtracked a lot with the NX hardware and the DeNA partnership, that was probably a sign he knew he didn't have much time left, and just wanted to try something radical before passing away. I wonder if the next CEO will keep this direction.

      • Not true, really. It *is* true that many types of cancer are difficult to cure, and that telling a cure from a temporary remission is also difficult. But there are definitely plenty of people who have had all detectable cancer eradicated and it never reappears in their lifetime. They continue to be checked because, as stated above, it's difficult to tell a cure from a remission where the cancer remains in undetectable amounts.

      • Not so. Typically if you *completely* remove a cancerous tumor it stays gone - though the risk factors that led it to forming in the first place may lead to new cancers forming in the future. (Also worth noting - not all tumors are cancerous - apparently the terminology has changed (or I misunderstood in the past) such that only malignant tumors are termed cancerous. Not that benign tumors can't kill you - a well-contained lump in the wrong place can still cause fatal complications, but it won't be rebel

    • This kind of cancer is very bad, I know from a current case in my family, it easily proliferates to the liver and/or the pancreas.
    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      He probably had cholangiocarcinoma, which is one of the deadliest cancers around. I know one person in the family who got diagnosed and had zero symptoms prior. Put him in the grave within 6 months of diagnosis. I myself have primary sclerosing cholangitis, which puts me at a high risk for cholangiocarcinoma. Having spoken with the lead hepatologist at one of the top hospitals in the US, I was told that they have very few cases that have been cured. In practice I was told that surgery is almost always too l

  • Game Over!
  • by MindPrison ( 864299 ) on Sunday July 12, 2015 @10:55PM (#50096091) Journal
    He will be missed.

    From us, dilektely to YOU! RIP. Iwata san, may you find happiness in the forest of Hyrule, forever the master of Baloon Fight.
  • Where is the coin slot?
    I'd like to insert some coins to avoid this "Game Over".

    *starts to grow 1-Up Mushrooms*

  • by amias ( 105819 )

    The prince is in another castle

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