Wired: Nintendo’s Miyamoto Stepping Down

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — The creator of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda will step down from his current position at Nintendo but remain with the company to work on smaller, more personal projects, Wired.com has learned.

[Beetey]

Have fun working for apple...

[Beetey]

Ha ha. Seriously though, I doubt this will have any effect on the quality of Nintendo's products.

[Jobesy]

Nintendo franchises have been stale for a looong time. Maybe Nintendo will start to make good games again and not rely on Mario, Mario and more Mario.

[Winter47th]

Things aren't looking too good for the WiiU now haha

[darthv72]

maybe him and krazy ken are going to hit the links (no pun intended).

Bounce ideas off each other while on the back 9.

It could happen, they are friends.

[mike1up]

Yea you're right. I mean, he's only been the producer in every single hit game in the Wii's entire lifespan: Super Mario Galaxy, Skyward Sword, Wii Sports etc..

What could the creator of Mario, Pokemon and Zelda possibly know about game quality? /s

[Grip]

well Nintendo need that.. Nintendo must move on and not relay on person... yah i know Miyamoto is a legend blah blah but come on we need something new and new idea and new ip and refreshing!

[morganfell]

I have to agree with Jobesy. Although Mario and Zelda sell well and to a large audience, it is the same audience. The appeal of those games do not cut a swath across the gaming spectrum and Miyamoto does not create games that appeal to a diverse group of gamers. Sales are not innovation or breadth of appeal.

If Nintendo is going to survive they need change.

Ninty has grossly misestimated the timing for releasing the Wii U and it will not see an adoption that is even close to the Wii.

Some of this is due to the ongoing growth of the 360 and PS3 and some of it is simply bad economical timing combined with the Wii U which does little to up the ante as far as advancing gaming to a new level with groundbreaking innovation.

The 720 and the PS4 will be the machines of the future, not the Wii U.

[DeeZee]

I know you were joking, but what? Everyone knows Miyamoto has too much honor to go work at another company. He created Mario and Zelda for goodness sakes.

[Beetey]

I was referring more to the "working on smaller games" thing than him literally working for apple.

[dark-hollow]

Geez m4g and your unfunnu jokes!
Miyamoto is a LEGENDARY developer and it is a shame that he is stepping down.

Give me one developer thay can keep TWO franchises alive for 25 years while maintaining the quality of the older titles...
But of course the n4g kids wont bother to care.

[jidery]

Kojima

[CDbiggen]

@jidery

Apart from MG, what other franchise has Kojima kept alive for 25 years?

[frostyhat123]

If it wasn't for him, their was a possibility of the video game industry vanishing! Thank you Miyamoto for many hours of amazing gaming and creating the most iconic figure in gaming!

[i_am_arbre]

whatever he sucked anyway

[AWBrawler]

Young blood huh?

[Fel08]

You must be new.

[mike1up]

Yea you're right, he does suck. He totally wasted his life. Instead of being a genius pioneer in a billion dollar industry, he should be trolling the internet making stupid comments for attention. /s

[lizard81288]

He just isn't going to play a big roll anymore, he still is going to work for Nintendo.

It is like he is stepping down from being #1 to being #2. He still is going to be there, but have a smaller roll.

[Truerandom]

I found it weird that Wired gets to have an exclusive reveal of him stepping down. Something that big would have came from Nintendo themselves, An official statement but their was none.

It turned out to be a big misunderstanding or a big spin of words to gain hits but who knows.

http://au.wii.ign.com/artic...

[SuperBeast811]

Nintendo is officially dead R.I.P:(

[Game3s]

Your a good troll, now go back in your hole.

[DarkBlood]

@Game3s

you do realize you make everything sound dirty? :P

[RememberThe357]

Trolls are under bridges not in holes.

[DeeZee]

Doubt it, and he's still going to be around.

[AWBrawler]

News flash Aonuma has been doing Zelda since Ocarina and Mario is handled by what's his name I forget it

[mike1up]

Miyamoto always "reviews" Zelda titles before their release, and is not hesitant to make final changes. There has never been a Zelda or Mario title where his name has been absent from the credits.

[AWBrawler]

I trust his pupils and dang it why haven't one of his children got into game design?

[Khordchange]

Well thats upsetting, it's not like he was losing it either, super mario 3d Land and Zelda Skyward Sword were incredibly fun. I guess it's necessary to set up nintendo for the future. The day he fully stops developing will be a sad one

[SpoonyRedMage]

Just going off the Iwata Asks for the two games Miyamoto wasn't that involved with either of them. Both were originally conceived by their directors whereas the norm from Nintendo EAD has been for the producers to do that so I guess they've been preparing for a while.

He's also spent the last twenty years training people like Hideki Konno, Yoshiaki Koizumi and Eiji Aonuma to take his place and they've all proved themselves.

[DeeZee]

Yup, it's like Steve Jobs--he may be gone, but he built a great team and his legacy will live on through them.

[PshycoNinja]

TEH INTERNETZ HAZ XPLODED!!!!!!!

In all seriousness Miyamoto not working on Mario and Zelda is a huge loss for the company but the industry does need new blood so...

[2EHO]

This shows where nintendo is going. Early reports said nintendo is going with their younger developers with Wii U. I believe the Wii U is going to shock a lot of people who believe nintendo is all family friendly.

[Mastarace]

They need him. Luckily their teams are great by now and learned from him.

[Yodagamer]

not to mention that alot of younger talent came up with ideas for the new mario kart game and nintendo ead tokyo which is also pretty new, it is going to be interesting in the next few years :)

[Barkleylola]

I think one of the younger developers could become the next, "Miyamoto"
I can't wait to see what Miyamoto does next. And to see what the younger people have planned.

[RememberThe357]

You will never see mature games from Nintendo, and frankly they don't need them. Family friendly has served them very very well and just because they're getting younger doesn't mean they're going to get edgier.

[SSKILLZ]

with huge bags of cash ^^

[AJBACK2FRAG]

Uhm. Not really. He gets a million bucks a year I'm sure other top executives in Japan make way more. Miyamato actually lives like a regular human being. He doesn't want an incredibly lavish lifestyle. I think he's a great guy but he's really a hero to me. That's why I hate it when people steal his work via emulation or hacking. Some dude on MW3 was bragging about never owning a single game for the Wii. He has all his Wii games on a hard drive. I was like,"Hey, you're stealing from my hero, asshole.".

[Yodagamer]

Hopefully he still has some say, but it is time for some fresh blood because nintendo seems to hire great people, it's time to let them shine and see what happens.

[LordStig]

it's going to be interesting to see what the next mario and zelda will bring without Miyamoto at the wheel.

[Godchild1020]

It seems there are people that work with Japanese companies that are stepping down from where they are and doing something different, that defines them a little more. I respect that, sometimes you want people to know that you can do things that are not what they expect.

I don't see this as a downfall, but a chance for some different ideas and innovation.

[SpoonyRedMage]

Just to be clear: Miyamoto is going back to active development and there's no indication he's leaving Nintendo.

[DeeZee]

Too bad people only read the headline.

[Neo Nugget]

Sucks :/

But people can't be around forever. Someone else is going to eventually have to step in for him. *shrug*

[Lavalamp]

So Miyamoto is going hands-on and Nintendo is going into the HD realm. It really is the end of an era.

[ClydeRadcliffe]

im very excited to see what he can bring us in terms of new ideas and new franchises. im sure he's sick of the same characters and gameplay styles over and over again. it's definitely going to be a big blow to nintendo in the short term, but ive no doubt he's gonna deliver the goods yet again

[Shackdaddy836]

"remain with the company to work on smaller, more personal projects"

Does this mean more new IPs from him? Oh I really hope so :)

[AWBrawler]

WiiU inspired him to hop back into dev mode lol

[ozstar]

He was a supervisor for a few years, and id imagine he had barely any time for himself to make new games (ala Pikmin), so this isn't exactly surprising.

But that fucking headline is, CHANGE IT IMMEDIATELY.

[contra157]

yikes that could hurt nintendo a lil bit , hes still there which is a good thing but if he doesnt over see projects , that could be fatal

[ForROME]

its over for nintendo now;

i will miss you Miyamoto

[Khordchange]

he isn't retiring, he is stepping down, as in no longer working with mario and Zelda because he feels they don't need his help anymore. He will be working on other personal projects, possibly some new ips or the wii series(wii sports, wii play, ect)

[Jdrm03]

That's insane.

[TruthbeTold]

Sometimes when you have a force like Miyamoto having such wide spanning influence over say for instance Game development, it's both a blessing and a curse. We're getting amazing games, but certain up and coming people may be being hindered in their growth by always having to defer to his will and expertise. They aren't being allowed to make mistakes or learn through trial and error.

Nintendo may possibly experience a slightly bumpy period, but overall this is probably a good thing. Especially since Miyamoto will still be with the company, and actually creating games hands on and implementing his own ideas.

[TheSoundDefense]

I want to see the game that Miyamoto would make entirely by himself.

[SeraphimBlade]

I'm very interested to see the smaller games that Miyamoto would make. Smaller releases allow for much more creativity and exploration, and if this guy can not only have ideas for games like pikmin, but also be able to make them fun, I'm sure whatever he makes will be great. Maybe finally convert some people to the downloadable market?

And c'mon guys, it's not like he was the ONE thing holding Nintendo's AAA titles together. It takes talent from everyone involved to make those classics. They'll be fine.

Best of luck in your future endeavors, Miyamoto-san!

[silkrevolver]

I think I just went blind for a second.
I mean... HE’S FUCKING SHIGERU MIYAMOTO.

I think the change could bring good things for Nintendo, and I’m interested in his new projects... but... I just.... AHHH.

[AWBrawler]

Makes us proud Shiggy! I want new IPs or maybe new downloadable games by Miyamoto

[swice]

I'm actually very ok with this. I want to see him work on his own stuff again. Wii U may have gotten a bit more interesting. We'll see...

[LettingGo]

Kutaragi stepped down. Kaz has done very well. I trust Miyamoto to leave the company in good hands and I know he will still have a very important part in the development of some games. :) I can't wait to see the future of Nintendo!

[MasterCornholio]

I can't believe he's leaving his position as General Manager of Nintendo's R&D branch. This man saved the 3DS from being a complete failure with the price cut and for finally bringing games to the system not to mention he cut his salary in half. It's a good thing that he will remain making games because Nintendo can't survive without his works of art.

Sad to see such a brilliant man go.

XperiaRay

[Canary]

...Yet the points you give for him saving the company don't really have anything to do with Research and Development. Maybe he just wasn't very good at that job?

I'm all for it. If leaving the administrative stuff leads to more hands-on with Zelda, more power to him.

[nano88]

Get a girlfriend or wife miyamoto for a change

[eagle21]

He's had a family since forever......he's the best game designer ever, fanboys fail hard.

[lionelglitchy]

sounds like he is going back to making games himself rather then just overseeing what others are doing.always thought it was a waste of his talents anyway.a new console,shiggy making new games, hopefully a new ip,younger producers taking control of established franchises seems like wins all round to me

[Instigator]

I read this with mixed feelings. It used to be a reassurance knowing that Miyamoto overlooked all these geat games, what with his eye for quality. I'll be very nervous when the next Mario and Zelda launches. On the other hand, if he's working on more independent projects with shorter dev. cycle we could get more of that Miyamoto magic in the future.

[Stealth2k]

article is false

[jacksheen0000]

Personally, I think Miyamoto is bored with the 3D era, and it shows; and Nintendo just now realizing that Miyamoto is not actively putting forth the effort as equally as much he did back in the old sprite days. Perhaps that why he said he wants to step down from his current position in order to work with a smaller team or make a game himself. So my question is, Has Miyamoto ever worked with any type of 3d application before??? I don't so! And if I'm correct, than the fact that he want to make a game by himself or with a younger team makes lot sense to me. So with my conclusion, I think Miyamoto misses working with sprites, or Nintendo needs Miyamoto to start new a gaming division that will only focus on making games for the arcade DLC for the Wii U.

[tiffac008]

This news has already been proven to be just a misunderstanding. Nintendo has already confirmed that Miyamoto isn't stepping down.

http://www.reuters.com/arti...

[gypsygib]

Miyamoto will go down in history as the greatest game creator ever but he has been making some of less than brilliant decisions lately - like pushing for the 3DS to only have one analog.

[Whitefox789]

Sounds exactly what Hideo Kojima wants to do.

[StarWolf]

hopefully this time he wont persuade the SSB devs to tone down the difficulty and make it casual orientated.