Topic: Satoru Iwata has died.

[K-man]

Nintendo has announced that its president and CEO, Satoru Iwata, died on Saturday. He was 55, and the cause of death was stated as a bile duct growth. Iwata took some time off for health reasons last year and had had surgery to remove a tumor, returning later in the year.

Iwata took over as president from longtime boss Hiroshi Yamauchi in 2002, and led the company to huge success with the Nintendo DS and Wii consoles. He formerly worked as a programmer at Nintendo subsidiary HAL, contributing to games like EarthBound, Balloon Fight, and the Kirby series.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/12/8940067/satoru-iwata-nintendo-dies

Not sure what to say. 55 is way too young. Remains to be seen as to how this will affect Nintendo, but it surely will.

[idolminds]

Man this is so sad. I'm bummed.

[Cobra951]

Wow.  Sorry to hear that.  55.  Damn.  

It feels wrong to think of the consequences to Nintendo, but I am.  As if they hadn't been going through tough times already.

[idolminds]

I thought about that, too. Nintendo is going through a lot of transitions at the moment, and now this just compounds things. Iwata presided over Nintendo for the Wii and DS which were massive successes for the company, even if that momentum didn't exactly carry forward. Hopefully the next CEO can fill those shoes.

[scottws]

My father died of a disorder and I thought he died young but he was 59.  But 55?!  Wow, that's crazy.  Sad news.

[K-man]

I'd mentioned it on IRC, but I'm sure Nintendo had contingency plans in place.  I believe all of this was discovered sometime last year.  Despite Nintendo's carefully worded statement I think all of us can deduce it was cancer.  This particular kind is difficult to successfully treat, so I'd imagine a lot of the transitional issues were worked out well in advance. 

[Quemaqua]

So very sad. I've had my issues with Nintendo for quite some time, and sometimes big ones, but I always liked Iwata. He seemed like a very genuine person, and I loved how involved he was with the company. He was far more than just a suit, which is so rare in the corporate world. One of the biggest personalities of the last couple decades in games. I guess it remains to be seen whether we miss him as a businessman, but no doubt we'll all miss him as a man. I have a feeling the former will be the case as well.