Nintendo have issued a statement confirming that their company president, Satoru Iwata, sadly passed away on Saturday 11th July, aged only 55.

The cause of death is due to a bile duct growth, for which Iwata took a hiatus last year for surgery to remove the growth and which saw him missing out on 2014’s E3 event. Shortly after, he reported that his recovery was going well.

He joined Nintendo in the 1980s as a programmer and was was appointed company director in 2000, taking over as representative director and president two years later. As of 2013, he was also CEO of Nintendo of America. Throughout the company’s highs and lows, Iwata was always an amiable and optimistic presence. Our thoughts are with his friends and family.

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