Nintendo went silent today. The man responsible for the current popularity of gaming, Hiroshi Yamauchi, died in Kyoto, Japan this morning. Known as a man who didn’t mince words, he inherited Nintendo at age 22 from his grandfather. The family business which manufactured trading cards at the time was the first to launch plastic cards in Japan, and years later revolutionized an industry. His reputation for having an iron fist was reflected through his policies of being the sole judge of new products as well as his decision to fire many long-time employees that questioned him at his young age.
The Nintendo Entertainment System brought gaming to the home in a way Atari couldn’t fathom, and also brought Nintendo to America, but the processes and methods it brought to the industry were also revolutionary. Yamauchi introduced Quality Analysis to the development process, while settting precedents for developer oversights and pioneering handheld gaming consoles with the Game and Watch. There are few people in our industry that don’t owe this man a debt.