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Animal Crossing: New Horizons & Breath of the Wild co-composer revealed he's left Nintendo

Yasuaki Iwata reportedly left Nintendo quietly in July 2024 and has moved on to new work he hopes to reveal in the near future.

TJ Denzer

November 6, 2024 12:40 PM

Image via Nintendo

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One of several composers behind the impeccable soundtracks for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Animal Crossing: New Horizons reportedly exited Nintendo quite a while ago without much fanfare. Yasuaki Iwata recently revealed that he exited the company and is currently doing work outside of Nintendo that he hopes to be able to show soon.

It was on Iwata’s personal social media that he shared the details of his departure from Nintendo, as shared by Video Games Chronicle. There, he explained how he moved on earlier this year to start on new work:

“I left Nintendo in July of last year and took a step towards a new challenge,” Iwata wrote, loosely translated. “We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the people involved who have supported us for so long, and to everyone who has enjoyed the game and listened to the music through it.”

少し遅くなりましたが、ご報告です。
実は昨年7月、任天堂を退職し、新しい挑戦に向けて一歩を踏み出しました。
長い間支えてくださった関係者の皆さま、作品を遊んでくださり、また作品を通して音楽を聴いてくださった皆さまに、心よりお礼申し上げます。…

— Yasuaki Iwata / 岩田恭明(いわた やすあき) (@yasui_wata) November 5, 2024

Yasuaki Iwata went on to say that he’s hardly done working, and he has a new project he’s been involved in which he hopes to be able to show off soon.

It will be interesting to see where Iwata goes next. Having lent his talents to the incredible sound and music scapes of Breath of the Wild and Animal Crossing, he seems equipped to create something cool. Stay tuned as we watch for what comes next, here at Shacknews.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.