2799 Satoru Iwata

Details

• Card ID:
  2799 Satoru Iwata
• First Name:
  Satoru
• Last Name:
  Iwata
• Tags: IVGHOF Japanese Ottumwa Old School Celebrations Superstars of 2017
• Other Notes:

  During the recent Ottumwa Trading Card Ceremonies, Satoru Iwata was among an elite group of video game luminaries who were inducted into the International Video Game Hall of Fame (IVGHOF) Class of 2016, and were also honored on trading cards for their important contributions to the global gaming culture. Presented by Billy MItchell and Walter Day, the trading card was unveiled -- along with an AWARD CERTIFICATE shown herein -- on Saturday, November 11, 2017, during the Ottumwa Old School Arcade Galaxies of Gaming Festival, at the Quincy Place Mall, in Ottumwa, Iowa. To see the other trading cards unveiled during this ceremony -- or to see the long chronological history of the TRADING CARDS AWARDS TRADITION, go to this link: Chronological History of the Trading Card Awards Ceremonies

  

  Satoru Iwata (December 6, 1959 – July 11, 2015) was a Japanese video game programmer and businessman who served as the fourth president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo. He is widely regarded as a major contributor in broadening the appeal of video games to a wider audience by focusing on novel and entertaining games rather than top-of-the-line hardware. In college, he majored in computer science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. In 1980, he joined the game developer HAL Laboratory and worked as a programmer and closely collaborated with Nintendo, producing his first commercial game in 1983. Notable titles to which he contributed at HAL include EarthBound and the Kirby series. Following a downturn and near-bankruptcy, Iwata became the president of HAL Laboratory in 1993 at the insistence of Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi and brought financial stability to the company. In the following years, he assisted in the development of the Pokémon and Super Smash Bros. series. Iwata joined Nintendo as the head of its corporate-planning division in 2000. Nintendo soon saw notable growth with Iwata's assistance and, as a result, he succeeded Yamauchi as the company's president in May 2002. Under Iwata's direction, Nintendo developed the Nintendo DS and Wii video game consoles, helping the company to achieve financial success in the industry. As a self-declared gamer, he expanded the appeal of video games across all demographics through a "blue ocean" business strategy. The company attained record profits by 2009, and Barron's placed Iwata among the top 30 CEOs worldwide. Throughout his career, Iwata built a strong relationship with Nintendo fans through social media and his regular appearances in Iwata Asks and Nintendo Direct; he accordingly became the public face of the company. Text from Wikipedia • Trading Card artwork by Caerwyn Akiwumi-Jones. NOTE: Because this card was created under deadline before Nintendo could officially authorize its printing, only 40 copies of the card were created for the ceremonies. Further copies may be printed when and if Nintendo autorizes production of such further copies.