Early years (2000–2002) In 2000, Iwata joined Nintendo as the head of its corporate planning division and took a seat on the board of directors. Over the next two years, he sought to reduce the cost and length of game development while preserving quality. During his first two years at Nintendo, the company saw profit increases of 20 and 41 percent, values which are at least partially attributable to his work. Iwata succeeded as Nintendo's fourth president with Yamauchi's blessing. He was the first Nintendo president unrelated to the Yamauchi family through blood or marriage since its founding in 1889. Yamauchi left the company in Iwata's hands with a final request: "that Nintendo give birth to wholly new ideas and create hardware which reflects that ideal. And make software that adheres to that same standard." He also fostered a relationship between Nintendo and
Capcom that improved the GameCube's appeal.
Revitalization of the company (2003–2009) Following up on his 2002interview, Iwata articulated a "
blue ocean" strategy to help Nintendo successfully compete against the other console manufacturers. Instead of competing on technical specifications, Iwata drew on his previous experience as a game developer to produce novel and entertaining hardware and games. In June 2004, Iwata sought a conference with
Dr. Ryuta Kawashima about a game that could appeal to non-gamers. This project would later become
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!, released in May 2005. The DS Lite improved upon the original DS, featuring brighter screens and a slimmer design in accordance with consumer demand. Released in March 2006 in Japan and three months later worldwide, the DS Lite ultimately sold nearly 94 million units. The DSi built upon the success of the DS Lite by similarly meeting consumer demand. In addition to being slimmed further, the DSi featured two cameras,
SD card support, an audio reader, and the "Nintendo DSi Shop". By the end of the 2009 fiscal year, Nintendo saw record net sales and profit of ¥1.8 trillion (US$18.7 billion) and ¥279 billion (US$2.8 billion), respectively. Due to his success, ''
Barron's'' included Iwata on their list of the 30 top CEOs worldwide from 2007 to 2009, stating that for Nintendo, "Wii (was) a winner; stock soars" under him.
Quality-of-life products '' gathered around a "virtual" Pokémon gym in
Brest, France. Social interactions outside homes like this was one of the goals of Iwata's quality-of-life initiative. Starting with the introduction of the Wii in 2006, Iwata placed focus on development of products that improved
quality of life. epitomized this movement. At
E3 2009, Iwata revealed development of an add-on product to the Wii: the Wii Vitality Sensor. The device measured
autonomic nerve functions, namely
pulse, and incorporate acquired data into relaxation products. Iwata saw the device as a continuation of the "blue ocean" strategy previously articulated. He indicated that the market of motion controls was turning into a "red ocean", whereby too many companies would saturate the market and restrict profits. The Vitality Sensor was developed in hopes of providing a novel way to interact with video games and continue Nintendo's history of innovation. However, testing of a prototype device yielded less than desirable results and Nintendo had postponed the release of the product indefinitely by 2013. The target was a new market outside video games. Developed under partnerships with Dr. Yasuyoshi Watanabe and
ResMed, the first device in this initiative was a fatigue and sleep deprivation sensor announced in October 2014. Unlike the Vitality Sensor, the sleep sensor was to be a stand-alone product that would not need to be worn. Following Iwata's death in July 2015, analysts questioned whether Nintendo would continue the quality-of-life initiative. Despite a planned United States release in March 2016, some suggested the product had been temporarily shelved, while others believed the product had been indefinitely postponed like the Vitality Sensor before it. Nintendo-based products like the
Nintendo Switch designed to encourage use on the go and social interactions, the mobile augmented reality game
Pokémon Go that requires travelling outside the house, and its addition
Pokémon Sleep that works based on a player's sleep patterns, all represent continuations of Iwata's quality-of-life initiative. The Switch game
Ring Fit Adventure, which includes accessories that let players manipulate the game through physical exercise, is seen as a successor to
Wii Fit and continuing the quality-of-life program.
Financial downturn (2010–2014) Subsequent hardware units under Iwata's tenure, including the
Nintendo 3DS and
Wii U, were not as successful as the DS and Wii, and Nintendo's finances took a downward turn starting in 2010. However, weak sales upon the release of the Nintendo 3DS caused the company's stock to fall by 12 percent on July 29, 2011. The console's poor sales prompted a price cut in August from its launch price of US$250 to US$170. Sales of the 3DS continually fell below expectations. Iwata later admitted in 2014 that he had misread the market and had not appropriately accounted for changing lifestyles since the launch of the Wii. He continually placed focus on family-oriented games despite declining popularity. was sold below its production cost as Nintendo hoped for stronger software sales to alleviate ongoing losses. The addition of
HD graphics, a feature not present in the original Wii, placed unexpected strain on development teams and led to software delays. Compounding the frustration of consumers was Iwata's disinterest in competitors such as Microsoft and Sony, both of which experienced similar issues during the releases of the
Xbox 360 and
PlayStation 3 respectively. Paul Tassi of
Forbes claimed that Nintendo could have handled the change more efficiently by drawing lessons from Microsoft and Sony's transition to HD graphics. The console ultimately failed to meet sales expectations and became the slowest-selling Nintendo platform, with 9.5 million units sold by June 2015. Miyamoto attributed the lackluster sales to public misunderstandings of the console's concept and functionality. Iwata later admitted the console to be a failure as a successor to the Wii, with games being unable to showcase notable originality in the Wii U. The back-to-back failures of the 3DS and Wii U prompted Mitsushige Akino of Ichiyoshi Asset Management Co. to suggest that Iwata should resign from his position. Nintendo's overall net sales declined from its peak of ¥1.8 trillion (US$18.7 billion) in 2009 to ¥549 billion (US$4.6 billion) in 2015. Net income losses were incurred in 2012 and 2014. Iwata voluntarily halved his salary in 2011 and 2014 as apologies for the poor sales while other members of the Nintendo board of directors had pay cuts of 20–30 percent. This also served to ensure the job security of Nintendo's employees, preventing workers from being laid off in order to improve short-term finances. Losses continued for the next two years before the company finally returned to profitability at the end of the 2015 fiscal year. The slight turnaround was largely attributed to blockbuster games such as
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. In June 2013, Iwata took on the additional role of Nintendo of America's CEO. As one of his first changes as CEO, Iwata decided that they would not hold large press conferences at
E3, and instead have several smaller events, each aimed at a certain demographic. While traveling to
Tokyo in late 2013, Iwata sketched an idea for a series of physical toys that could connect with Nintendo's games. This concept soon developed into the
Amiibo line of figures which launched less than a year later. Amiibo proved to be a huge success, with more than 6 million figurines sold by the end of 2014, roughly a month after launch. By March 2016, combined sales of figures and cards—a product released in 2015—exceeded 64 million units, proving financially beneficial across all Nintendo platforms.
Mobile market and Switch (2015) controllers attached In early 2010, the success of
Apple Inc.'s mobile
App Store prompted concern among game developers that the medium was shifting to
smart devices. That July, Iwata acknowledged competition from Apple and considered them the "enemy of the future". However, during an interview the following year, Iwata appeared entirely against the idea of Nintendo moving into the mobile market, claiming the company would "cease to be Nintendo" if they did so. He reasoned that mobile gaming would lack integrity over the quality of games in an effort to turn a profit. A slow shift in this view ensued over the following years as the mobile gaming market continued to grow. In 2012 he acknowledged that mobile devices provided significant competition but remained confident in his company's abilities. In a message to shareholders in March 2014 fiscal year, Iwata stated, "... I believe that the era has ended when people play all kinds of games only on dedicated gaming systems." Criticism arose over his continued stubbornness in moving to the mobile market, In March 2015, Iwata put part of Nintendo's focus on the growing
mobile game market, creating a landmark partnership with mobile provider
DeNA to publish games, as traditional hardware console sales began to falter. This came in contrast to Nintendo's previous business model which put focus on console exclusives to prompt people to buy their platforms. Iwata emphasized that although Nintendo
IPs would be utilized in mobile games, the company would not compromise their integrity. He also stressed that the main goal would be to reach as many people as possible rather than which options would earn the most money, similar to the idea behind the Wii. After the partnership with DeNA was established, Iwata reiterated his stance that the common
free-to-play type mobile games, which he referred to as "free-to-start", threatened the future quality of games. He also emphasized that the business model for these games did not match with the core values of Nintendo and could not serve as the basis of "long-lasting relationship with [Nintendo's] customers". Iwata oversaw development of the
Nintendo Switch through the final months of his life, serving as the console's head developer. In a February 2017 interview with the magazine
Time, Miyamoto believed Iwata's goal for the system was to make it portable and allow communication between people. Iwata focused on the technical aspects of the device during this stage.
Public relations when he stared at bananas in silence for several seconds before turning to the camera. During the earlier years of his presidency at Nintendo, Iwata would often forgo media appearances, unless new hardware was being announced, in order to spend more time programming. However, his attitude towards this changed, and he eventually became a prominent part of Nintendo's public relations. Iwata helped Nintendo to improve relations with its fans by regularly responding to them through social media, These interviews often showcased the friendly camaraderie between Iwata and other members of Nintendo as jokes and laughter were commonplace. In 2011, Iwata helped to institute
Nintendo Direct, a series of online press conferences open to all that revealed upcoming Nintendo games and products outside of typical industry channels. These frequently spurred the creation of
Internet memes; such memes include the phrase "please understand" which was often used by Iwata for delays or other negative news, adding "[Iwata laughs]" to forum posts as a reference to his frequent laughter in segments of Iwata Asks, and images of Iwata staring silently at a bunch of bananas as part of a pre-recorded
E3 2012 video to promote the
Donkey Kong franchise. As a byproduct of his presence in Iwata Asks and Nintendo Direct, Iwata became the public face of Nintendo. Iwata enjoyed conversing with reporters and would prepare stories in advance to entertain them. Even when time did not allow, he would mingle with interviewers and chat casually.
Other projects Iwata assisted in the founding of
Creatures Inc. and
The Pokémon Company which were established in 1995 and 1998, respectively, by Tsunekazu Ishihara. Iwata later coordinated licensing changes domestically and internationally with The Pokémon Company when it became its own entity. Soon after his promotion to president of Nintendo, Iwata assigned himself to a development team at HAL Laboratory working on
Super Smash Bros. Melee, for the GameCube, to continue his programming passion. He also had a cameo in
WarioWare: Smooth Moves. Iwata partook in the development of
Pokémon Go, an
augmented reality mobile game, starting in 2013. The game was publicly revealed in September 2015, two months after his death. ==Illness and death==