It’s hard to overestimate the extent of Shigeru Miyamoto’s influence on Nintendo and the gaming industry in general. Indeed, without it there would be no MarioAnd zeldaAnd Donkey KongAnd fox starAnd F-zeroAnd Pikmin… the intellectual property that, quite frankly, made Nintendo what it is today. So it’s hard to imagine what the company would be like without him.
Fortunately, Miyamoto himself has a good idea.
In an interview with NPR (Thanks, Nintendo everything), Miyamoto talked about the impact of Nintendo’s games and how they managed to capture the hearts of so many gamers, before moving on to what Nintendo might ultimately look like without him. This is what he said:
“You know, I really feel like it’s not going to change. It’s probably going to be the same. There are, you know, people on the executive team, creators within the company and also people who created Mario, they all have this sense of what it’s like to be Nintendo. And so it’s not a lot.” From the different opinions that are repeated.
“Everyone has an understanding, this kind of shared understanding, of what it means to be Nintendo. And so even when new ideas come up, there’s always the fact that it’s a new idea, but also the fact that it’s a new idea that has a Nintendo core or not? And I think that’s something, as You know — we have this amazing shared vision, almost a scary little shared vision, about this. So I guess there won’t be — it won’t happen to change.”
looks correct. Even looking inside from the outside, there is definitely a sense that all Nintendo employees share the same ideology when it comes to the brand and its games.
Another thing to consider is Miyamoto’s role within the company at this time. While still working creatively in some areas (notably Super Mario Bros movie And maybe Pikmin 4), the creative reins were metaphorically handed to young talent some time ago, with Miyamoto now serving as one of Nintendo’s representative directors. It’s safe to say that Miyamoto has tremendous influence within the company to this day, so we’re sure his influence will be felt for generations to come.
What do you think of Miyamoto’s comments on his final departure from Nintendo? Let us know your thoughts with a comment below.
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