Shigeru Miyamoto is No Longer Involved in Day-to-Day Work, Leaves It to the Younger Generation - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 July 2024 / 4,789 Views
Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator for some of the most iconic video games at Nintendo, is now in his 70s and earlier this year said he has no plans to retire.
Miyamoto during Nintendo's annual shareholder meeting on Thursday did reveal he is no longer involved in the day-to-day work and he is working on passing the baton to the younger generation.
"I appreciate your concern. Being the oldest among us now makes me feel a bit anxious," he said when asked about his health and future plans (via a VideoGamesChronicle translation). "However, I am comfortable working within the company."
He added, "While I am not completely disconnected from game development, I am no longer involved in the day-to-day work and leave it to the younger generation.
"The transition is going well, but even those I handed this over to are getting older, so I want to pass the baton to even younger people. I am still closely involved with Pikmin Bloom, so I hope you will continue to support it."
Miyamoto has been working at Nintendo since 1977.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
More Articles
It’s a bit sad that he’s stepping back, even though he’s definitely earned it. Donkey Kong was my first video game in 1981, and Nintendo makes up the largest share of my game library, by far. There will never be another quite like Shigeru Miyamoto.
However, I am glad he is looking towards the long term future of Nintendo by training the people who will succeed the people who are succeeding him.
Absolutely! That's what will keep the spirit of Nintendo that generations of gamers have fallen in love with, continuing on for generations to come.
Arguably the most important and influential game developer in gaming history tbh. He deserves all the remaining years he has left in him working on something he thoroughly enjoys.
Absolute legend. I grew up playing the Nintendo Wii and Gameboy Advance SP, and while I don't play Nintendo games as much as I used to, this guy is a huge reason for our love of video games.
Honestly this is the right move. The old pass on the batton, while keeping a eye on things, to make sure newer gen are doing alright. No one lives forever. Talent doesnt just magically appear, it needs to be fostered and have room to grow.
I’ve always liked Shigeru Miyamoto. He’s always been one to credit others and look toward elevating others (since at least the 1990s) while maintaining his artistic integrity. There are some devs who tend to take any credit offered to them, even when it’s undeserved or even damaging to projects while holding back others (Hironobu Sakaguchi comes to mind).
He's already cemented his spot as the greatest creator in games history. But to pass the baton, and do so successfully, could put him on a level of success that transcends the medium. It's a tough thing to pull off, passing on genius.
Shiggy is one of those you think would be around forever
He stays busy. He is a producer of the Zelda movie and the next Mario movie.
Shigeru Miyamoto made my childhood a memorable one thanks to all of the franchises he's created, and I continue to love Nintendo in my 20s and soon 30s. Thank you, Miyamoto-san.
The legend among legends in gaming.
Without him we would not have gaming as it is now.
Its sad to understand his heydays are gone.
At least he can smile and look back
At this point, I think Miyamoto-san is trying to hit 50 years at Nintendo and he's close.
I do have to say that at least he didn't retire during the 3DS and Wii U. He made a lot of baffling decisions in the late Wii and DS days all the way until the early Switch days. When he retires, I want it to be in a good time, if not a great high note.
Here's some details about Miyamoto letting the devs run wild with Super Mario Odyssey which was the right call and made an amazing game.
“The way that we’ve worked together in the past with Mr. Miyamoto is that he never tells us, ‘You should do it like this,’” said Super Mario Odyssey director Kenta Motokura. “Rather, we have discussion about how to express an idea, and if something is falling short of that we’ll talk about how we could express that better.”
Miyamoto’s feedback can get highly specific, as he will often give the team feedback about the number of frames that should be in an animation. “He’s pretty critical,” said Motokura. “I don’t want to make it sound too negative, but he’s not the kind of guy to say, ‘Boy that really shocked me or surprised me.’ One of the things he might say is, ‘That’s good, right?’”
On the other hand, Mario’s creator has also been willing to let the team experiment wildly with new ideas. “He’s not the kind of guy to naysay anything,” said Motokura. “He’s been very accepting of the things we’re trying to do, and there haven’t been any cases where he’s said, ‘no, we’re not doing this.’”
I do miss the days with Reggie, Iwata and Miyamoto. They changed the gaming industry forever. Good to see him giving those under him the experience needed to push Nintendo forward.
I'll never forget the way forward he paved for Nintendo. :(
It's been like this for nearly a decade now.
I guess that explains the sudden renewed interest within Nintendo to make Mario RPGs...and it is for this reason, I trust the younger generation might do even better than him (though that'll be a tall bar to reach.)
Can we stop this false accusation and reputation?
I'm just saying...the moment Miyamoto steps back, all the sudden the RPGs are good again. He's an utterly brilliant game designer, but his philosophy on storytelling in video games is one which had left PM and M&L severely damaged.
I don't want to get into everything -- yes, I understand Sticker Star had a very troubled development cycle, and yes, Paper Jam was a title produced by an exhausted AlphaDream following Dream Team -- but there are many reasons to suspect Miyamoto had a negative influence on the storytelling component on these franchises (as well others, as reflected in SMG2, Zelda TotK, etc.).
He's just reiterating that he isn't involved in game development anymore. It's been this way since the Wii U era, the last time Miyamoto was completely hands on was during the Wii/DS and beginning of 3DS/Wii U. So you are confused talking about "the moment Miyamoto steps back" when he's been giving freedom to younger devs for a long time now.
"His philosophy on storytelling", "negative influence on the storytelling" tell me about his philosophy then. I'm assuming you are just exposed to awful disinformation by youtubers like Arlo and clickbait articles that does little to no effort researching. People need to actually watch interviews where Miyamoto talks to understand the tone, bcuz texts especially translated ones can heavily change context.
bc I have a GRE in six hours, I'll follow up on this message later. Just to give you something to chew on:
In this interview from 1993, Miyamoto discusses his philosophy of "gameplay over storytelling" as well discusses his philosophy on RPGs: https://shmuplations.com/futureofrpgs/ ("For me (Miyamoto), I don’t place a lot of emphasis on those things (storytelling) in my game design endeavors, so my efforts always begin from the gameplay system side, trying to create something that could support and bear the weight of an interesting story.")
In this interview from 2003, Miyamoto double-down on his philosophy/disdain for RPGs: https://web.archive.org/web/20110927050900/http://www.miyamotoshrine.com/theman/interviews/081403.shtml. ("I personally have a fundamental dislike of the RPG system." That is, he lacks an understanding as to what the appeal of an RPG is. This mentality is very clearly reflected in the shift from TTYD to SPM, where the gameplay went from that of a traditional RPG to much more of a platformer.)
In 2009 interview, Miyamoto explicitly states how "Mario games aren't particularly suited for story": https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/960551-super-mario-galaxy-2/49954822.
Other sources where Miyamoto discusses his gameplay over storytelling philosophy: EuroGamer 2010 interview where Miyamoto stresses the importance of world/game-feel over storytelling (https://www.eurogamer.net/miyamoto-world-beats-story-in-games), IGN 2017 interview where Miyamoto discusses the struggle of maintaining. strong balance in storytelling and gameplay (https://www.ign.com/articles/2017/02/13/zelda-creator-shigeru-miyamoto-explains-the-importance-of-story-in-games), etc etc etc.
He has never stated story is not needed in gaming. He's saying gameplay should be the main focus. Then people started pushing the narrative that Miyamoto hates story or some shit like that. I agree with him. Gameplay is the most important aspect in a video game, it's not a book (story), it's not a movie (visuals). Look at all the popular game throughout the history (Mario, Minecraft, Tetris, Pokemon, COD, GTA, Online multiplayers, etc.) most of them aren't focusing on the best story or super high graphics. Why? Bcuz it shouldn't be the top priority.
Once again, that's not to say that story is unnecessary. Miyamoto has stated multiple times that good story is like a spice, it can enhance the experience. So how is that "negative influence on storytelling". He's just reminding his coworkers what the most important thing in a video game is. People acting like he wasn't involved with TTYD or other Mario RPGs before Sticker Star. In fact, TTYD was the last Paper Mario he was credited as producer ironically. People took translated interviews, wrongly interpreted it, and went with it.
Essay Pro