“He had superbly good instincts about what was happening on the ground. Iwata sought to appeal to people who’d never played games before and to those who used to play but quit, said Kensuke Yabe, professor at Chukyo University’s School of Global Studies. “What Japan has to offer still has great potential.” “It wasn't exactly something that many experts in the game industry expected the world to find fun,” he said. He likened the game, which simulates living in a village, to children playing house.
Instead of Hollywood-style grand battles, Japan excels at more peaceful blockbusters, like Nintendo's “Animal Crossing," Itoi said. “I have never seen him blame anyone or speak ill of anyone,” said Itoi, who knew Iwata for 25 years, and says he loved him like a younger brother. Read more: Qualcomm working on Nintendo Switch-like gaming console Shigesato Itoi, a writer, actor and creator of Nintendo’s “EarthBound” game series, featured comments from Iwata's book on his personal website, and deeply admired him. “My plan was to be a sounding board and to get a sense of what was happening, but when I sat down with each person individually, I was blown away by how much I was learning,” Iwata wrote. His colleagues say he was a good listener, interviewing everyone at the company twice a year, trying to be fair and respectful. Iwata was promoted to head HAL before taking the helm at Nintendo. He first made games for Nintendo Famicom machines, which came out in the 1980’s. He was working part-time at Japan's HAL Laboratory, known for the “Kirby” games and collaborating with Nintendo, before he graduated from the prestigious Tokyo Institute of Technology. Iwata showed talent for programming as a youngster. That kind of emotional commitment allows a company to overcome difficulties, even during periods of financial losses, as employees hang on and work hard for a turnaround, he said. “Ultimately, Nintendo employees just really love Nintendo. “Nintendo is in many ways a very old-fashioned Japanese company,” he said. Japanese companies should stick to being Japanese, doing what they do best, craftsmanship-like manufacturing, Kikuzawa said, exactly as Iwata led Nintendo. That in turns, breeds employee loyalty, which Kikuzawa believes is important in the creative work that drives Nintendo. Kenshu Kikuzawa, professor of business administration at Keio University, believes that Japanese companies' strengths come from its traditional practices like lifetime employment and pay raises by seniority, which still characterize major Japanese companies including Nintendo. Nintendo also has intellectual property, driving lucrative businesses such as merchandizing and theme parks.Īll those businesses thrived under Iwata's presidency. Questions also remain about Nintendo’s ability to monetize on the growing sector of mobile games.Ĭonsoles could continue to evolve, such as those with virtual reality, analysts say. The hoped-for end to the pandemic is likely to coincide, analysts say, with a peak in the so-called “life cycle,” or duration of consumer appeal, of Nintendo’s console offerings like the Switch. That good fortune might not last as normal activities resume with vaccine rollouts, a change likely to crimp sales to the casual game users who make up Nintendo players, rather than the core gamers rival consoles tend to attract. Profits for the nine months through December doubled from a year earlier to nearly 377 billion yen ($3.4 billion). The company's performance has had ups and downs like a Super Mario roller-coaster ride, but has done well lately as people stuck at home due to the pandemic turned to games. Iwata took over in 2002, and presided over video game offerings like the Wii console and the Nintendo DS handheld, as well as games played on cell phones.
Kyoto-based Nintendo started out making traditional Japanese playing cards. Iwata was of a younger generation than the vanguard of Japanese manufacturing leaders who have grabbed global attention: Soichiro Honda, founder of the automaker that carries his name Momofuku Ando, inventor of the instant noodle Akio Morita, who started Sony in a repair shop amid bombed out rubble.Īlso read: Multiple PUBG India job listings show up on LinkedIn, confirms govt approval and imminent launch The company culture he fostered encouraged individual game creators, showing he was one of them at heart. Throughout the book, Iwata outlines his vision for Nintendo Co., which was to offer entertainment that everyone in the family could enjoy, regardless of age, gender and game playing skills.