Long time readers of TGD know we love games and the gaming world, which is why we were sad to learn about the passing of Hiroshi Yamauchi, the big cheese in charge of Nintendo, who was largely credited for leading the company to glory.
In their report on Yamauchi’s passing, Wired called him the “man who built Nintendo’s empire, and he was indeed the guy who took the company from board games and playing cards to gaming, which of course raked in the big bucks.
In the glory days of the eighties, the big boys in gaming were Atari and Nintendo. When gaming was at its peak, these companies were making money hand over fist, and Yamauchi was the man in charge at the company for fifty-three years. According to Bloomberg he was the richest man in Japan with a reported net worth of $7.8 billion. (Yamauchi owned 10% of Nintendo’s stock, and he also owned the Seattle Mariners.)
In the world of gaming there have been some remarkable visionaries, and we salute the efforts of Yamauchi, which gave us Super Mario Brothers, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and so many other wonderful favorites. As one gaming executive told Bloomberg, “Yamauchi made the game industry what it is now. I appreciate his achievement.” The company also said in a statement, “Nintendo will carry on Yamuchi’s spirit,” but it’s also sure to loom large over gaming everywhere.
