Highlights
- Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary game designer at Nintendo, has no plans to retire from the gaming industry.
- Miyamoto has taken on a supervisory role within Nintendo and has been involved in projects outside video games, such as movies and theme parks.
- Miyamoto feels thankful for the contributions of other creators at Nintendo and believes that his eventual departure won’t change the creative vision within the company.
Nintendo‘s Shigeru Miyamoto has said that he doesn’t plan on retiring from the gaming industry at this time. A lot of Nintendo’s iconic franchises, like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, are thanks to Miyamoto. Not only has Miyamoto designed influential games like Donkey Kong, he has also helped design popular Nintendo consoles over the years.
While Miyamoto is still actively working for Nintendo, he has taken on a more supervisory position with the company as its “Creative Fellow.” In the last 10 years, Miyamoto has taken to overseeing projects outside video games, such as the release of Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the creation of Universal’s Super Nintendo World theme parks. Having turned 71 years old in 2023, some might wonder if the legendary game designer has plans to eventually retire from the industry, to which Miyamoto says no.
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In an interview with The Guardian, Miyamoto was asked if he was ever tempted to retire from Nintendo, with the interviewer predicting that he would say no. Miyamoto confirmed he has no plans to retire from the industry yet, as he “loves what he does.” Rather than thinking about retirement, he says he more often thinks about what will happen when he eventually dies. “More so than retiring, I’m thinking about the day I fall over,” Miyamoto says, with a smile. “In this day and age you have to think about things in a five-year timespan, so I do think about who I can pass things on to, in case something does happen.”
Miyamoto then says that he is thankful for the creative energy that other people in the company have provided for his creations. As a result, he doesn’t feel like he has ownership over franchises like Mario, Zelda, and Pikmin, as they all “grew up” thanks to the contributions of other creators at Nintendo. Miyamoto then stated that while he is still an emblematic part of Nintendo, he doesn’t need to be a person who oversees entire projects and their minute details during development.
More so than retiring, I’m thinking about the day I fall over. In this day and age you have to think about things in a five-year timespan, so I do think about who I can pass things on to, in case something does happen.
Miyamoto has discussed his eventual leave from Nintendo before, stating that his departure likely won’t change what happens at the company. Instead, he believes that a lot of people at Nintendo on both the executive and creative side want to create new experiences, and that there is a “shared sense” for the creative vision inside Nintendo. Miyamoto stated that when he retires, he hopes that the teams within Nintendo will at least remember him as the creator of some of Nintendo’s properties.
Nintendo
Nintendo is a Japanese video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. While producing highly popular hardware consoles like the Switch, the company is known for its many first party video game franchises like Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Fire Emblem, Pokemon, and many more.
