Editing Satoru Iwata (section)

===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.{{sfn|Inoue|2009|p=57}} Over the next two years, he sought to reduce the cost and length of game development while preserving quality.<ref name="IGNprofile2">{{Cite web |last=Burns |first=James |date=July 16, 2004 |title=Profile: Satoru Iwata |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/07/16/profile-satoru-iwata?page=2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625195653/http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/07/16/profile-satoru-iwata?page=2 |archive-date=June 25, 2013 |access-date=July 19, 2015 |website=[[IGN]] |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] |page=2}}</ref> During his first two years at Nintendo, the company saw profit increases of 20 and 41&nbsp;percent, values which are at least partially attributable to his work.<ref name="IGNprofile" /> When Yamauchi, the company's president since 1949, retired on May 24, 2002,<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 24, 2002 |title=Yamauchi Retires |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2002/05/24/yamauchi-retires |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224015844/http://www.ign.com/articles/2002/05/24/yamauchi-retires |archive-date=December 24, 2013 |access-date=July 19, 2015 |website=[[IGN]] |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Thomas |first=Lucas M. |date=May 24, 2012 |title=Hiroshi Yamauchi: Nintendo's Legendary President |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/25/hiroshi-yamauchi-nintendos-legendary-president |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190816143117/https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/25/hiroshi-yamauchi-nintendos-legendary-president |archive-date=August 16, 2019 |access-date=July 19, 2015 |website=[[IGN]] |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]]}}</ref> Iwata succeeded as Nintendo's fourth president with Yamauchi's blessing.<ref name="ap">{{Cite web |last=Kageyama |first=Yuri |date=July 12, 2015 |title=Nintendo President Satoru Iwata Dies of Tumor |url=http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2015-07-12-AS--Japan-Obit-Nintendo%20President/id-62869fddfd054d72b98981cf64a6cfab |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904004626/http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2015-07-12-AS--Japan-Obit-Nintendo%20President/id-62869fddfd054d72b98981cf64a6cfab |archive-date=September 4, 2015 |access-date=July 12, 2015 |agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> He was the first Nintendo president unrelated to the Yamauchi family through blood or marriage since its founding in 1889.<ref name="nytimes">{{Cite news |last=Stack |first=Liam |date=July 13, 2015 |title=Satoru Iwata, Nintendo Chief Executive, dies at 55 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/business/satoru-iwata-nintendo-chief-executive-dies-at-55.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150715042950/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/business/satoru-iwata-nintendo-chief-executive-dies-at-55.html |archive-date=July 15, 2015 |access-date=July 13, 2015 |work=[[New York Times]]}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Eurogamer" /> Iwata inherited a company that promoted individualism, with a policy established by Yamauchi to create new development positions as needed. However, this inhibited efficient collaboration between certain departments.{{sfn|Inoue|2009|p=77}}

At the time of Iwata's promotion, Nintendo, though still a profitable company, was not performing as well as other console makers. The recently released [[GameCube]] was performing poorly compared to competitors, with [[Sony]]'s [[PlayStation 2]] and [[Microsoft]]'s [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]] outselling it.<ref name="la times" /> His presidency also came at the onset of the popularization of online gaming, and Nintendo had yet to move into this facet of the market. He took a cautious approach to the issue, stating: "We're not negative toward the idea of going online. We're just practical."<ref name="IGNprofile3">{{Cite web |last=Burns |first=James |date=July 16, 2004 |title=Profile: Satoru Iwata |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/07/16/profile-satoru-iwata?page=3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423205933/http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/07/16/profile-satoru-iwata?page=3 |archive-date=April 23, 2013 |access-date=July 19, 2015 |website=[[IGN]] |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] |page=3}}</ref> He also fostered a relationship between Nintendo and [[Capcom]] that improved the GameCube's appeal.<ref name="Eurogamer" /> During an interview in 2002, Iwata stated that he felt the gaming industry was becoming too exclusive, and he wanted to develop hardware and games that would appeal to all players rather than focusing on top of the line graphics.<ref name="IGNprofile3" />

One of his first actions as president was to meet directly with the company's 40&nbsp;department heads and 150&nbsp;other employees. This contrasted starkly with Yamauchi's practice of rarely meeting with employees and generally having a single, annual speech. [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] described the previous business atmosphere as "stuffy" and stated Iwata "improved the ventilation".{{sfn|Inoue|2009|pp=83–85}} Iwata was acutely aware that his position as president would not ensure compliance from his employees and sought to communicate with them on a personal level. If employees disagreed with his view, Iwata would suggest they follow their idea instead of his own, stating "creators only improve themselves by taking risks".{{sfn|Inoue|2009|pp=83–85}} Alongside the increased level of interaction, Iwata also brought more data and science into the business aspect of the company. Whereas Yamauchi made decisions based on intuition and experience, Iwata brought forth hypotheses loaded with data to convey his position.{{sfn|Inoue|2009|pp=87–88}} Iwata also promoted Miyamoto, [[Genyo Takeda]], Yoshihiro Mori, and Shinji Hatano to representative directors on the company's board of directors, equaling his own position.<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.nintendo.com/corp/report/fiscal2003.pdf |title=2003 Annual Report |publisher=Nintendo |page=72 |access-date=September 14, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305133231/https://www.nintendo.com/corp/report/fiscal2003.pdf |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |url-status=live |year=2003}}</ref><ref name="Finances2014">{{Cite report |url=https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2014/annual1403e.pdf |title=Annual Report 2014 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2014 |publisher=Nintendo |page=1 |access-date=September 3, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150404003748/http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2014/annual1403e.pdf |archive-date=April 4, 2015 |url-status=live |year=2014}}</ref>