Hobonichi - Ask Iwata: Words of Wisdom from Satoru Iwata, Nintendos Legendary CEO

Ask Iwata

IWATASAN: IWATA SATORU WA KONNAKOTO WO HANASHITEITA.

by Satoru Iwata and Hobonichi Co., Ltd.
Illustrated by 100%ORANGE

Copyright Satoru Iwata Hobonichi, 2019

Illustrations copyright 100%ORANGE, 2019

All rights reserved.

Original Japanese edition published by Hobonichi Co., Ltd.

This English edition is published by arrangement
with Hobonichi Co., Ltd. Tokyo in care of Tuttle-Mori
Agency, Inc., Tokyo

No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means without written permission
from the copyright holders.

This edition published by VIZ Media, LLC

P.O. Box 77010 | San Francisco, CA 94107

English Translation Sam Bett

Design & Layout Francesca Truman

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data available.

ISBN: 978-1-9747-2154-2

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America.

T his book presents assorted reflections from Satoru Iwata that were originally published on the website Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun . A portion of the text also draws from the Iwata Asks column serialized on the Nintendo website. Iwata rarely talked about himself when interacting with the media. When he believed that the company or project would benefit the most if he were the one to speak, he stepped up to the mic, but any discussion of his personal experience was usually coincidental.

That said, as so many of us are well aware, Iwata was an extremely honest and resolute individual. If you gather together his various remarksmade on a variety of occasions in his capacity as chief executive or as the head of developmenthis personal insights naturally come to the fore, in a synergy of insight and experience.

This book aims to bring those insights together, gathering into a single volume Iwatas words of wisdom from a multitude of articles.

Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015. He was a kind man, who in his years at HAL Laboratory distinguished himself as a programmer by creating a score of iconic games, and as the president of Nintendo gave the world such consoles as the Nintendo DS and Wii in an earnest effort to, as he put it, expand the gaming population. News of his death weighed heavily on the hearts of people the world over.

From its inception in 1998, Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun was lucky enough to have Iwata as a collaborator. He and Shigesato Itoi, our editor in chief, happened to be extremely close, and on occasion Iwata paid a visit to our office to chat with Itoi for as much time as his schedule allowed. He was more than happy to take part in a number of articles we produced, and frequently approached us with content he produced himself.

His sudden passing left us distraught, like so many other game lovers across the world. It felt like a piece of our hearts had been taken away.

Now, several years have passed, and though we have recovered slightly from the pain, theres something missing in our lives without Iwata around. This feeling prompted us to give Iwata new life through this book. It was the least that we could do, with all the words of wisdom that he gave us.

As a note on what follows, most of the source material for this book can still be found in a perusal of our website. If you read carefully through the articles and interviews, youre bound to find something familiar. Yet its inevitable for web content to be buried under new material, and pretty soon nobody reads it anymore.