Today marks the one-year anniversary of Satoru Iwata’s passing from this world. The development of Iwata’s health issues was kept fairly quiet until his passing, and news of his death came as quite a shock to most of us. Although we’re still deeply saddened by his passing and miss his smile and guidance, it’s worth pointing out that his influence and leadership sent out ripples and wakes that are still shaping the industry. Today, industry executives, developers, and publications are offering some very touching tributes and taking time to remember what made Iwata so special; his achievements were many.
Iwata not only single-handedly saved HAL from financial ruin, he could also be fairly attributed with Nintendo’s incredible, post-GameCube upswing. Under Iwata’s leadership, Nintendo soldiered bravely forward into a new generation with a new strategy that resulted in exciting innovations; the DS family of handhelds and the Wii would not have been such tremendous successes without him. Iwata wasn’t afraid to own Nintendo’s stumbles, either. In 2013 after Nintendo saw a decline in profits, Iwata announced that he would be cutting his pay in half for several months, and one of his last public statements was an apology made to Nintendo fans after the negative reception of Nintendo’s E3 Direct last year. He was a once-in-a-lifetime executive, and a kind human being loved by all; we miss him greatly. Thanks for all of your hard work and inspiration, Iwata-san!