5 things Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata taught us about the game industry

The influential works of departed president Satoru Iwata left a legacy that will live not only in the games he created but in what he taught everyone — fans, developers, and marketers — about the business of making games.

From his beginnings as a freelance programmer to heading one of the biggest gaming companies in the world, Iwata showed how great minds can revolutionize the industry. Iwata understood the importance of setting trends, not following them, even when the rest of us thought he was crazy for doing so.