Earlier this year, beloved Nintendo president Satoru Iwata passed away. Tonight at The Game Awards, Reggie Fils-Aime paid him tribute.
You can watch Reggie’s speech here:
Show host Geoff Keighley also reminisced about a moment he shared with Iwata a few weeks before he passed away. He said Iwata looked “thinner than I thought he would be,” but he remained joyful and encouraging. “He was such an incredible man,” Keighley said before handing things off to Fils-Aime.
“If you were to design the perfect person to lead a video game company,” began Fils-Aime, “you’d want someone who understood electrical engineering, who understood software design, and who understood business. Not many can claim this broad background, but Mr Iwata did.”
“The man was fearless,” he added. “Remember how you felt when you first heard the name ‘Wii’?”
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7 responses to “Watch Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime Pay Tribute To Satoru Iwata”
Who’s cutting onions damn it…
Aw man Reggie, you’re gonna make me tear up again.
Jesus, I felt a little teary eyed just by clicking on this article. It was a really great speech and probably the highlight of the show for me, amongst all of the other admittedly mediocre announcements (except maybe Rock Band VR).
I know there are a lot of people who aren’t keen with a lot of the decisions Nintendo have made over the years. I know personally that I don’t play Nintendo games like I used to, and that’s not necessarily due to them being of a lower quality, it’s just that my tastes have kind of branched away from that over the years. But I know growing up that Nintendo had a massive role in my gaming life, and I’ll forever appreciate that. I also know that Satoru Iwata was a man who genuinely loved video games … he wasn’t in the industry because he could see all the money to be made, but rather wanted to stoke its fires with his passion and enthusiasm. The gaming industry NEEDS more people like him in it. He rightly deserves all the respect and praise.
Iwata would be proud of you, Reggie. What a fantastic speech.
He was such a *massive* part of my (our!!) childhood…
Damn its a loss – one in a million. The vision, spirit and enthusiasm you brought to the industry will never be repeated Iwata-san
In the words of some no name band (:P) Shine on you crazy diamond
It was a pretty nice speech, shame they introduced Reggie with some electronic dance music prior to giving a farewell speech to an old friend and legend in the industry. The production felt very impersonal and cold; why do you need to put in this bullshit music and shitty light show when you’re meant to be remembering someone? Doesn’t Iwata deserve a little more respect than a glorified powerpoint slide and flashing bright lights as though this were some sort of teenager’s rave party? Please, dim the lights next time; don’t make Reggie introduce the next speaker, don’t play techno-pop-dance music to intoduce a serious speech about a major loss and show a little more respect.