Satoru Iwata: The Heart of Nintendo. Satoru Iwata, born on December 6, 1959, in Sapporo, Japan, discovered programming as a teenager, creating simple calculator games in high school. He studied computer science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and, in 1980, joined HAL Laboratory as a programmer. There, he contributed to classic titles such as Balloon Fight, Kirby, and EarthBound. In 1993, he became HAL’s president, saving the company from financial trouble. Iwata joined Nintendo in 2000 as head of corporate planning and, in 2002, became the company’s fourth president—and the first not related to the founding Yamauchi family. His leadership transformed Nintendo through the “blue ocean strategy,” focusing on innovative gameplay instead of hardware power. This approach led to the massive success of the Nintendo DS and the Wii, both breaking sales records and attracting millions of new players. Even during difficult times, such as the Wii U’s poor sales, he showed humi...