Miyamoto Steps Down from Current Position (Maybe)

[hisak]

...but he's staying with the company, so don't worry.

In an interview with Wired, he says that he'll no longer be supervising a huge number of games that take years to complete, instead focusing on developing smaller projects, or perhaps something that he designs entirely by himself.

Miyamoto, whose creations propelled Nintendo to worldwide prominence beginning with 1981′s arcade game Donkey Kong and who is generally recognized as the world’s most influential and creative game designer, said he felt comfortable stepping away from supervising the Mario and Zelda games because his staff has done such a good job with this year’s critically acclaimed entries in both series.

I'm really interested in seeing what this does to the company. Obviously I'm really excited to see what kind of games he starts designing. I assume the first would be the new IP he's been talking about, but it'd be strange for it to be developed by a tiny team (or no team at all) rather than by major Nintendo resources. As for the franchises he'll be leaving behind, it should be interesting to see what they decide to do without him. What do you think?

[Ezlo's Apprentice]

Easing us into life without him. Still hard to remember the big man is pushing 60. In terms of smaller projects, perhaps we'll see some Miyamoto specials on the download channels. That would be call.

In terms of the long-term future of our favourite franchises, fortunately he has been warming up some younger guns to take on his big names. Aonuma for one is already thinking about "really making Zelda [his] own" while Koizumi or Hayashida seem well up to the challenge of the Mario games after their work with the Galaxies. And of course, Sakurai's a man with a staggering wealth of imagination as seen from Kirby and Smash Bros, while his fresh take on Kid Icarus looks like a cracker.

EDIT: Denial Reassurance from Nintendo

There seems to have been a misunderstanding. He has said all along that he wants to train the younger generation.

Which is basically what Shiggy is quoted as saying in the interview. Obviously the exaggeration in the headlines that have done the rounds had someone at Nintendo feeling a little concerned.

[Carl Jr.]

 I'll say what I said before.


Eh.


  The guy is great and all, don't get me wrong. But he knows what he's doing, and I honestly think this is very very healthy for the franchises. He's letting other people direct them, and both Mario and Zelda are franchises that are very imagination-dependent. "Son of Miyamoto", here.

[hisak]

Well now Nintendo claims that it was a misunderstanding, so who knows what's going on?

Video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto's role at Nintendo is not changing. He will continue to be a driving force in Nintendo's development efforts. In discussing his priorities at Nintendo in a media interview, Mr Miyamoto explained how he is encouraging the younger developers at the company to take more initiative and responsibility for developing software. He attempted to convey his priorities moving forward, inclusive of overseeing all video game development and ensuring the quality of all products. Mr Miyamoto also discussed his desire to pursue fresh ideas and experiences of the kind that sparked his initial interest in video games.