The Guardian:
Satoru Iwata changed the whole games industry and now leaves it in mourning When Iwata arrived, he brought with him a “blue ocean” philosophy: instead of competing with rivals like the PlayStation and Xbox on technical specs, Nintendo would explore entirely new areas of design. He thought differently from other corporate leaders in the industry, for one very important reason: Iwata learned his trade in the trenches of game development
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Speaking at the Game Developers Conference in 2005, Iwata said: “Making games look more photorealistic is not the only means of improving the game experience. I know, on this point I risk being misunderstood, so remember, I am a man who once programmed a baseball game with no baseball players. If anyone appreciates graphics, it’s me! But my point is that this is just one path to improved game. We need to find others. Improvement has more than one definition.”
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When the Wii was first revealed, the industry scoffed once again. The graphics processors were inferior to those in the latest PlayStation and Xbox machines and the Wii remote controller seemed like a gimmick. But then people started playing early titles like Wii Sports and Wii Play – they were intuitive, fun and social. Anyone could get involved. Word of mouth spread and by mid-2007, Wii had sold more units than the PS3 and Xbox 360 put together. People were holding Wii parties, and everyone who attended was going out and buying their own machine the next day. It sold over 100m units.
In 2013, following the sluggish performance of the Wii U, Iwata was pressed by investors to cut Nintendo’s staff to save money. “If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results, employee morale will decrease,” Iwata replied. “I sincerely doubt employees who fear that they may be laid off will be able to develop software titles that could impress people around the world.” Nintendo cut no staff.
When a (non-gamer) friend asked about who he was, I summarised it as "imagine if Steve Wozniak had been put in charge of Apple instead of Steve Jobs"
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