“On my enterprise card, I’m a company president. In my thoughts, I’m a sport developer. However in my coronary heart, I’m a gamer”.
eleventh July 2025 marks the tenth anniversary of Satoru Iwata’s passing; a person who cemented himself as not solely an distinctive chief throughout instances of each success and failure, however a figurehead that will steal the hearts of numerous followers around the globe.
It is troublesome to essentially say something that hasn’t already been expressed in some unspecified time in the future within the final decade, however we predict it is clear that Iwata’s presence continues to be felt in each Nintendo circles and the gaming business at giant. Certainly, with the current information of in depth layoffs from Xbox and Microsoft and the turmoil at studios internationally during the last couple of years, many have recounted the phrases spoken by Iwata throughout a shareholder Q&A session in 2013:
“If we cut back the variety of workers for higher short-term monetary outcomes, nonetheless, worker morale will lower, and I sincerely doubt workers who worry that they could be laid off will be capable of develop software program titles that would impress individuals around the globe.”
Iwata additionally paved the way in which for the Swap — Nintendo’s most profitable dwelling console of all time — having labored extensively on the system earlier than his passing in 2015. The results of this are nonetheless felt to this very day, with Nvidia paying tribute to Iwata in a current video on the Swap 2:
“I nonetheless keep in mind the day Iwata-san shared his dream with us. He needed to create one thing no-one had seen earlier than: a console highly effective sufficient for giant cinematic video games, however sufficiently small to take anyplace. It sounded not possible, however that imaginative and prescient turned the unique Nintendo Swap.
“We misplaced Iwata-san earlier than the launch, however his readability, his objective, it nonetheless evokes our work on a regular basis.”
5 years in the past, former NL editor Tom Whitehead wrote about Iwata’s profession and his legacy, and it is unusual to assume {that a} full decade has now handed – and to contemplate how the world has modified in that point. We surprise what Iwata would make of the state of the business, of Swap’s success, and of the model new console we’re having fun with.
All that is left to say is, effectively, thanks, Iwata-san. Nintendo wouldn’t be the place it’s at present with out your management, ardour, and want to ship the easiest experiences in gaming.
What are your favorite reminiscences of Satoru Iwata? Depart a remark along with your tales and ideas down beneath.
