Iwata has passed away

[Cronozilla]

If we're going to shift the conversation entirely to speculating on the future of the Nintendo presidency, maybe we should do it outside of this thread?

@Exhuminator that's a picture I would have liked to have seen while he was alive. I never saw him outside his suits, or at least a jacket.

Nintendo released a transcript of Takeda's eulogy, it's been translated if people want to read it: http://www.polygon.com/2015/7/17/899633 ... a-nintendo

[GSZX1337]

From Yuji Naka's Facebook. A sad day indeed.

Does anyone else think this is kinda beautiful? Seeing a Sega programmer honor a Nintendo programmer's death. I know it's not so much the case anymore, but for so long these companies have been seen as rivals and I find the whole thing rather nice.

[Exhuminator]

I really hope it's not Miyamoto. I feel he is too stubborn and narrow minded and wouldn't take the business risks that iwata took

While I respect Miyamoto's game design accomplishments, I agree with what you've said about him. That's why I would not want to see him running Nintendo. Anyone who's read interviews with people who've worked under Miyamoto make it clear how he operates. If it was up to Miyamoto, the Mother series never would have existed for example.

[Gunstar Green]

I have a feeling Miyamoto probably isn't interested in taking the helm long-term. He's even discussed his future retirement from Nintendo in past interviews.

[Sarge]

Yeah, I don't want Miyamoto in that role. For multiple reasons, but the biggest is that he needs to be directing projects and such, not dealing with the stuff that a president typically does.

Of course, one could argue the same to be true for Mr. Iwata... but he did an excellent job helming Nintendo. Not everything panned out, sure, but he had a vision and made it happen.

Another reason I'm not going to freak out is that Hiroshi Yamauchi used to be the president, and he wasn't a gamer, designer, or anything, just one cutthroat businessman. (But he, too, had a vision, not to disparage the man.)

[ZeroAX]

Yamauchi had a plan? For me it always felt that he just had a lot of great talent working for him and nothing else.

Iwata on the other hand had a vision. And if that vision didn't work out, he would learn from his mistakes and adapt.

[MrPopo]

Yamauchi had a plan? For me it always felt that he just had a lot of great talent working for him and nothing else.

Iwata on the other hand had a vision. And if that vision didn't work out, he would learn from his mistakes and adapt.

He focused on the high level strategy and, as you said, was smart enough to let the talented people in the company focus on the details.

[Exhuminator]

Yamauchi had a plan?

In 2008, Yamauchi was Japan’s wealthiest person with a fortune at that time estimated at $7.8 billion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshi_Yamauchi

That kind of wealth doesn't happen without a plan. This man was a master strategist, even if he wasn't a gamer.

[Sarge]

Yeah, pretty much what the others have said. He realized that he needed creative people, and left them to do their work. He had his plan and vision on the business side, and pursued it with ruthless efficiency.

[Exhuminator]

He realized that he needed creative people, and left them to do their work.

"Yamauchi believed that technicians did not create excellent games, but artists did."

"To help spring creativity, he created three research and development groups and allowed them to compete against each other. This caused the designers to work harder to try to get their games approved."

From the Wiki article I linked above.