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| Satoru Iwata |
Japanese video game maker Nintendo has said its chief
executive Satoru Iwata has died of cancer at the age of 55.
Mr Iwata underwent surgery last year and had resumed his
duties after a brief period of recovery.
A
highly revered figure in the Japanese gaming scene, he was considered the
leading figure behind some of Nintendo's most popular devices since he joined
the company in 2000.
Most
recently, he led Nintendo into the rapidly growing mobile gaming sector.
Growing up in Japan in the 1980s, Super Mario was a
gaming character that you couldn't avoid. But as the gaming population started
to decline in the late 90s, Mr Iwata knew that he needed to make products that
were more appealing to non-gamers.
And
he succeeded. Nintendo DS quickly became the world's best-selling handheld game
console when it was released in 2004.
Two
years later, there came another successful launch of Wii which was dubbed the
computer game that even your grandma can play. Together, they switched on
millions of new converts to computer games.
But
the rise of mobile phone games has posed a serious threat to Nintendo and some
investors questioned his decision not to enter the market sooner.
As
he put it himself, Mr Iwata was a chief executive who had the brain of a games
developer and the heart of a gamer.
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