Nintendo has revealed that thousands of fans, friends, family, and business associates attended the recent funeral services for company president and CEO Satoru Iwata. Iwata passed away last Saturday due to a bile duct growth that had caused health issues for years. The response to the news was quite extraordinary, with Nintendo fans, and gamers in general mourning the loss of a man that seemed to truly care about video games.
Nintendo held two separate services for Iwata, with 2,600 people showing up the first day, and 1,500 on the second. This huge turnout came despite Kyoto, the home of Mr. Iwata and Nintendo’s company headquarters, suffering from a typhoon at the time.
“At a temple,” reads the WSJ article, “people wearing black and carrying umbrellas because of a nearby typhoon lined up to pass his coffin. Some even carried a Nintendo 3DS handheld game machine, which was introduced by Mr. Iwata.”
Many executives from Nintendo were in attendance, including Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda, who have temporarily taken over Iwata’s former responsibilities. Takeda spoke at the funeral saying that they would strive to complete the work Mr. Iwata had started, and that he had planted seeds that would one day grow into flowers “that will make people around the world smile.”
Published: Jul 17, 2015 10:20 am