Polygon: Nintendo president Satoru Iwata dies at 55

Polygon: Nintendo president Satoru Iwata dies at 55

Owen S. Good:

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.

Satoru Iwata was the fourth president of Nintendo, succeeding Hiroshi Yamauchi, who had led the company into its modern identity as a titan of video gaming. Iwata had been a programmer for HAL Laboratory, today known for the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. franchises, before taking Nintendo’s top job in 2002.

As president of Nintendo, Iwata oversaw the introduction of two of the company’s most profound successes — the Nintendo DS line of handhelds, and the Wii, both of which substantially widened the video game market in the preceding decade.

Sad day.