Tokyo: Satoru Iwata, the president of Japanese video-game giant Nintendo, has died after developing a tumor, the company announced on Monday.
Iwata, 55, joined the Kyoto-based company in 2000. He was named president just two years later, state-run NHK news agency reported.
Nintendo in an official statement said that he died in a hospital in Kyoto on Saturday.
The company developed the Nintendo DS and Wii game console under his leadership. The devices became global hits.
Iwata spent his final years trying to revive the company’s finances. Nintendo posted operating losses for three straight years through fiscal 2013 amid the growing popularity of smartphone games.
But Iwata stepped back into the spotlight in March this year. He announced plans for a tie-up with Japanese IT firm DeNA to develop games for smartphone users.