There was a bit of a ruckus raised in the online gaming community earlier in the week when legendary game developer Shigeru Miyamoto told Wired.com that he'll be "retiring."
In his interview with Wired, Miyamoto stressed that he's not stepping down from Nintendo at all. Rather, he is looking to focus less on supervising big projects like Super Mario 3D Land so he can return to "the forefront of game development" himself, preferably on smaller projects.
"In other words, I'm not intending to start from things that require a five-year development time," Miyamoto said. He added that he hopes to start on a project in 2012 and show it off later in the year.
Mainstream news outlets and shareholders got a little confused in the din following the interview's initial release, and there arose some talk about how Miyamoto might be retiring from Nintendo, wholesale. That's not the case.
In fact, Miyamoto's shift in job priorities can be seen as a big positive for Nintendo, which has come under fire in recent years for rehashing its intellectual properties instead of creating fresh ideas. Miyamoto has proven time and time again that he's a visionary: this is the man who invented Mario, Link, Donkey Kong, and a host of other characters and ideas for Nintendo. The more hands-on he goes with projects, the happier he'll be--and the better for Nintendo and the industry in general.
And while Miyamoto's contributions past and present are immeasurable, it's a disservice to Nintendo's many talented developers to assume the company would shrivel and die without his input. In his interview with Wired.com, Miyamoto implies that he understands this himself, hence his choice to use the word "retire" when he talked about stepping down as a supervisor.
"The reason why I'm stressing that is that unless I say that I'm retiring, I cannot nurture the young developers," Miyamoto said. "After all, if I'm there in my position as it is, then there's always kind of a relationship. And the young guys are always kind of in a situation where they have to listen to my ideas. But I need some people who are growing up much more than today."
Miyamoto isn't leaving Nintendo anytime soon, but he'll have to step down someday. Young developers have to be groomed for the inevitability that their mentor will leave them someday. But even when Miyamoto is gone, those younger developers will almost certainly prove capable of carrying on his legacy of fun games and rich ideas.
That said, we all hope Mr Miyamoto stays with us for as long as he is happy making games.
In his interview with Wired, Miyamoto stressed that he's not stepping down from Nintendo at all. Rather, he is looking to focus less on supervising big projects like Super Mario 3D Land so he can return to "the forefront of game development" himself, preferably on smaller projects.
"In other words, I'm not intending to start from things that require a five-year development time," Miyamoto said. He added that he hopes to start on a project in 2012 and show it off later in the year.
Mainstream news outlets and shareholders got a little confused in the din following the interview's initial release, and there arose some talk about how Miyamoto might be retiring from Nintendo, wholesale. That's not the case.
In fact, Miyamoto's shift in job priorities can be seen as a big positive for Nintendo, which has come under fire in recent years for rehashing its intellectual properties instead of creating fresh ideas. Miyamoto has proven time and time again that he's a visionary: this is the man who invented Mario, Link, Donkey Kong, and a host of other characters and ideas for Nintendo. The more hands-on he goes with projects, the happier he'll be--and the better for Nintendo and the industry in general.
And while Miyamoto's contributions past and present are immeasurable, it's a disservice to Nintendo's many talented developers to assume the company would shrivel and die without his input. In his interview with Wired.com, Miyamoto implies that he understands this himself, hence his choice to use the word "retire" when he talked about stepping down as a supervisor.
"The reason why I'm stressing that is that unless I say that I'm retiring, I cannot nurture the young developers," Miyamoto said. "After all, if I'm there in my position as it is, then there's always kind of a relationship. And the young guys are always kind of in a situation where they have to listen to my ideas. But I need some people who are growing up much more than today."
Miyamoto isn't leaving Nintendo anytime soon, but he'll have to step down someday. Young developers have to be groomed for the inevitability that their mentor will leave them someday. But even when Miyamoto is gone, those younger developers will almost certainly prove capable of carrying on his legacy of fun games and rich ideas.
That said, we all hope Mr Miyamoto stays with us for as long as he is happy making games.
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