Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s president who introduced the Wii, dies at 55

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, who led the Japanese gamemaker back to ascendancy in the early 2000s, has died of bile duct cancer at the age of 55.

Iwata was an enormous force not just at Nintendo, but in gaming. He led Nintendo through the eras of the GameCube, Wii, DS, 3DS, and Wii U, and he worked on Earthbound, Pokemon,  The Legend of Zelda, Smash Bros., and many other titles. Appointed in 2002, he was the first Nintendo president who was not related to the company’s founding Yamauchi family. He began his gaming career as an employee at the HAL Laboratory, which is responsible for games such as the “Kirby” series.

His death comes as Nintendo has been pulling itself out of a slump and recently announced new initiatives including a partnership to begin building smartphone games.

A favorite among Nintendo’s fans, Iwata was perhaps best known to players as the host of Nintendo Direct – regular videos that fell somewhere between a fireside chat and a press conference — in which he talked about what was up next for the company. Approachable and affable, he also regularly let players see the inside workings of Nintendo with a series of interviews he conducted with developers and published on a blog called “Iwata Asks.”

Iwata has been battling health complications before his death, undergoing surgery to remove a tumour in his bile duct in June last year. He was absent from the shareholders’ meeting last year although he returned to his desk and continued his high-profile role. Nintendo first discussed Iwata’s health issues a little over a year ago when it said that surgery on his bile duct would keep the CEO from attending the 2014 E3 Expo. When he started appearing again in Nintendo livestreamed videos after E3, he had lost a significant amount of weight.

Iwata missed this year’s E3 as well, but continued to work, as he fully participated in the most recent meeting of Nintendo shareholders on June 26.

In Satoru Iwata’s death, the world of video games has lost one of its biggest champions and creators.