Miyamoto-san says sayonara to Nintendo

Brian Ambrozy 7 Dec, 2011 at 10:44pm ET Article published in Gaming

This is one of those moments where you sit back and say… “Wow”.

When you think back to everything that Shigeru Miyamoto has done for gaming, and for Nintendo, you start to realize the full scope of just how influential this man has been to gaming as a whole.

Shigeru Miyamoto, in an interview with Wired, revealed that he’s stepping down from his role at Nintendo in order to pursue smaller individual projects.

From the interview:

“What I really want to do is be in the forefront of game development once again myself. Probably working on a smaller project with even younger developers. Or I might be interested in making something that I can make myself, by myself. Something really small.”

Miyamoto got his start in 1981 by creating Donkey Kong for the arcade. It could be argued that with Donkey Kong, he single-handedly vaulted Nintendo into popularity, and that without strong follow-ups like Mario and Legend of Zelda, Nintendo may not even exist today. Despite his 59 years of age, he continually shows his young spirit and childlike glee at the wonderous world of video gaming.

I got to see Miyamoto on stage this past June at E3, as he impishly came out on stage, and raised his hands to begin the orchestra strike as they played the Legend of Zelda “treasure chest” theme. At the crescendo, he raised both hands high in the air as if he was holding aloft the very Triforce that he invented. Miyamoto is the very spirit of fun-loving wonder that pervades nearly everything Nintendo does.

It will be interesting to see a Nintendo without Miyamoto. The momentum is there, but will the spirit remain?

Comments

7 Dec 2011 ~ 11:10pm PirateNinja I mouthed oh my god when I saw this news title, I don't remember the last time an article had that effect on me. Well, even if his small projects don't pan out this man is a legend.
7 Dec 2011 ~ 11:16pm primesuspect Legend is the right word for it. He truly is.
7 Dec 2011 ~ 11:20pm Ilriyas Would've never expected that, considering what he's done for video games I can hardly believe that he's actually going to leave Nintendo.
7 Dec 2011 ~ 11:26pm BuddyJ I will "Item get!" in his honor.
7 Dec 2011 ~ 11:50pm Canti He pretty much made Nintendo what it is. That's crazy to hear.

"What I really want to do is be in the forefront of game development once again myself."

Does that mean we'll finally get Pikmin 3?!
8 Dec 2011 ~ 12:37am UPSLynx Holy balls. Didn't see this one coming. This is huge.
8 Dec 2011 ~ 1:01am PirateNinja

UPSLynx wrote:

Holy balls. Didn't see this one coming. This is huge.
8 Dec 2011 ~ 3:44am Thrax Looks like he's just going back to game development. Interesting.
8 Dec 2011 ~ 4:27am pigflipper Isn't there an age restriction on upper/management and/or hard retirement cap in Japan? Could this be as a result of that?
8 Dec 2011 ~ 4:53am RahnalH102 I do wonder what he'll make next. Yet another item for the "patiently waiting for" list.
8 Dec 2011 ~ 8:10am CB Clarification: Miyamoto isn't going anywhere. He's staying with Nintendo and he's not changing his title or position. All he's doing is changing his job description to include less bussinessy stuff and more 'hang out in R&D and help' stuff.

He's just using "retire" (or rather a Japanese word which is similar, but not exact in meaning), around the office so that the younger guys don't feel intimidated when he hangs out with them.
8 Dec 2011 ~ 1:05pm UPSWeezer

CB wrote:

Clarification: Miyamoto isn't going anywhere. He's staying with Nintendo and he's not changing his title or position. All he's doing is changing his job description to include less bussinessy stuff and more 'hang out in R&D and help' stuff.

He's just using "retire" (or rather a Japanese word which is similar, but not exact in meaning), around the office so that the younger guys don't feel intimidated when he hangs out with them.

I am so relieved to hear this. I don't know what Nintendo would be without him. He IS Nintendo.