It's a sad, sad day in the video game world. Nintendo reports that its President and CEO, Satoru Iwata, has died at the age of 55 due to a bile duct growth. The executive had been forced to skip E3 2014 due to health issues and had surgery to remove a growth later that year, but it's unfortunately clear that this wasn't enough. The company isn't saying much about succession at this point, but it looks like Genyo Takeda and company legend Shigeru Miyamoto are taking the reins for now.
Iwata had a profound effect at Nintendo. He came to the company in 1983 and helped create some of the developer's legendary titles, such as EarthBound and the early Kirby titles. He took charge of the firm's corporate planning in 2000, and in 2002 became the first person to lead Nintendo that wasn't part of the founding Yamauchi family.
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Whoa... dark day at Nintendo. But from the sound of it this had been a problem for him. Jeez, almost makes you think he worked himself into the ground, why did he keep working if his health was so bad? RIP.
