Major Nintendo composer has left the company

Important takeaways

Yasuaki Iwata has recently confirmed that he will be leaving Nintendo in July 2023.
Iwata contributed to the compositions and arrangements in games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Animal Cross: New Horizons.
Iwata indicates that he has been working on new projects since leaving him.

Yasuaki Iwata, a composer who worked on some of the most popular Switch games, has left his position at Nintendo. However, this departure from Nintendo does not mark the end of Iwata's music career, as it is confirmed that he has new projects in the works.

Iwata earned his first credits at Nintendo for his work on the music arrangements of two Wii U games. Specifically, Iwata contributed to the music in Super Mario 3D World from 2013 and Mario Kart 8 from 2014. After these titles, Iwata shifted his focus to games that would ultimately be released on the Nintendo Switch, and his compositions can be heard throughout The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Animal Crossing: New Horizonsand beyond.

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However, it seems that gamers should not expect to see Iwata's name in the credits of future Nintendo games, as the composer has recently confirmed his departure from the company. In fact, Iwata indicates that he is leaving Nintendo in July 2023, and he describes his departure as “taking a step in a new direction.”

Zelda: Breath of the Wild & Animal Crossing: New Horizons composer leaves Nintendo

While the details of the new direction are currently unknown, Iwata indicates that he has been working on new projects since leaving Nintendo. It could mean that he has prepared compositions for non-Nintendo games, or that he has even worked on an album of his own. Be that as it may, fans may not have to speculate about Yasuaki Iwata's post-Nintendo activities for much longer, as he says he hopes to share some of his new projects in the “near future.”

Until then, players can enjoy Iwata's work as they visit cities, Divine Beasts, and Kass i The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Fans will also hear Iwata's work every time they start Animal Crossing: New Horizonswhen he composed and arranged the game's main theme, and at various times throughout the day. So also Iwata's music can be heard when competing on a variety of tracks in Mario Kart 8 Deluxeincluding Donut Plains 3, Toad's Turnpike and Royal Raceway.

Gamers won't have to pull out their Nintendo Switches every time they want to listen to a Yasuaki Iwata composition, though, as some can be found in the new Nintendo Music app. For the uninitiated, that app is available to current Nintendo Switch Online members, and it has a variety of Nintendo music playlists. While it's recommended that video game music lovers explore many of the playlists available, Iwata fans may want to turn their attention to playlists like Hyrule Life and Break Time.