Zelda: BOTW and Animal Crossing: New Horizons composer Yasuaki Iwata has left Nintendo

The man behind some of the Switch’s best music, Yasuaki Iwata, has announced that he will be leaving his role at Nintendo.

The composer has arrived Twitter shared that he actually stepped down from the position in July 2023, although this was the first time he publicly admitted it.

In his message, Iwata expressed “sincere gratitude” to all those who have supported his work. He also confirmed that he has been working on several other projects over the past year, which he hopes to share “in the near future.”

You’ll find Yasuaki Iwata’s full message and original tweet below:

I have a little belated announcement to share.
In July of last year, I took a step in a new direction by leaving my position at Nintendo.
I want to express my sincere gratitude to all those who have supported me throughout the years, those who love my work, and all those who have listened to the music through the projects in which I participate.
I’ve been working on new projects since I left and I hope to have the opportunity to share some of these with you in the near future. If there are people who want to continue following my journey, I would truly appreciate it and I hope you’ll look forward to what’s to come.
Thank you so much for your continued support!

Iwata began his tenure at Nintendo with development work Super Mario 3D World soundtrack in 2013. With the release of Switch in 2017, Iwata stepped up to the plate and contributed compositions to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, ARM, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and even the now iconic main theme for Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

As stated in the above announcement, this is not the end of Iwata’s work, although there is no guarantee that we will hear the tracks on a Nintendo system. Nintendo Music composer credits may still be missing, but we’ll be highlighting the New Horizons theme for the rest of the day.