Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo, has died. Nintendo confirmed his death today in a brief statement. Iwata was 55.
"Nintendo Co., Ltd. deeply regrets to announce that President Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015 due to bile duct growth," the statement said.
Iwata's health problems became public knowledge when Nintendo announced that Iwata would not attend the 2014 E3 Expo due to bile duct surgery. Iwata also missed this year's E3 Expo last month.
Iwata took over as the head of Nintendo in 2002, and oversaw two of the company's biggest developments: the Nintendo DS and the Wii. He kept his public persona strong with his Q&A video series, "Iwata Asks," in which he sat down with Nintendo developers and peered into their creative process.
But in recent years, Iwata also came under a lot of scrutiny over declining sales and his resistance to creating mobile-friendly games. Still, the company was able to take in $132 million in profit last year under Iwata's leadership.
Iwata was the fourth president to run Nintendo since it began in 1889, and the first president that was not related to the founding Yamauchi family.
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