Nintendo's, CEO Satoru Iwata dies at 55

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.