Satoru Iwata

In a sad press release tonight, Nintendo has announced that its CEO and president Satoru Iwata has passed away from a bile duct growth.

Nintendo will develop and sell new hardware consoles aimed at emerging markets as it fights to climb out of a global slump it has fallen into in recent years.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has cut his salary in half following an earnings report in which the company saw a loss for its fiscal year, and slashed expectations for its Wii U console by over 50 percent.

The Japanese business daily Nikkei has reported that Nintendo will create smartphone-based minigames for its more popular titles.