The entire gaming world is in mourning this week as the world has lost an icon in gaming. Nintendo announced that their president, Satoru Iwata, passed away at the age of 55.

Iwata

According to Nintendo’s announcement, “President Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015 due to a bile duct growth”. Iwata has been suffering from that condition for some time now and was the same reason for him missing out on last year’s E3. Fans all over the globe have been shocked by this announcement, with many being saddened and offering their condolences to Nintendo and Iwata’s family. Here is Smash Bros. creator, Masahiro Sakurai’s tweet:

Sakurai said that this day is not regular and his mental state is not regular as well. He said that he must go to work like any other day because that is what he needs to do. Meanwhile, this one is from one of Nintendo’s top rivals, Sony, which is in competition with the Wii, Wii U, and 3DS

Iwata became Nintendo’s fourth president, and is actually Nintendo’s first president who was previously a game designer. Back in the 80’s, Iwata was a mere programmer for Nintendo, who worked on games like Balloon Fight and NES Open Tournament Golf. While he was not credited for the creation of one of Nintendo’s most iconic characters, Kirby, Iwata has been credited for deciding to create Kirby’s Dream Land, and has been active in the development of Nintendo’s iconic pink powerhouse. His achievements as Nintendo president included the rise of the Wii back in the mid-2000’s as well as the rise of the DS and 3DS. He also is responsible for the development of the Nintendo Game Cube.

One of Iwata’s final appearances was as a muppet during this year’s E3 event. Here is the video, so enjoy

To the Iwata family and Nintendo, we would like to send our condolences to a trailblazer who has changed the gaming industry as a whole. He will surely be missed.