A few words on Satoru Iwata

I tend to be very poor with words when I’m emotionally comprised but I think we at Citizen Game would be remiss if we did not pay tribute to the late Satoru Iwata in some small way.

Nintendo has a reputation of being a great company to work for, and with Mr. Iwata at the helm not only watching out for employees (on several occasions he took cuts times to offset company losses and spoke out about businesses casually laying off employees) but also dedicated to maintaining the integrity of the company’s design philosophies, it’s easy to see why. Iwata was not just a suit. You got the sense that he genuinely cared about both the craft of gaming and entertaining the world, and that shone through through him more than any leader in the business.

If you need any more proof of that beyond his many brilliant Nintendo Direct skits from over the years, check out the wonderful clip I’ve embedded below (credit to Paul Jeremiah Hayes for making me aware of this). It’s of an appearance that Iwata made on the cult Japanese TV show GameCenter CX a few years back. Not only does it provide some insight into the man and his career (in his own words, no less) but also demonstrates his genuine exuberance and love for what he did. Rest in Peace, Iwata-san.