Miyamoto: I’m healthy and don’t plan to retire any time soon

Nintendo developer legend Shigeru Miyamoto is fit and healthy and does not plan to retire any time soon, he has declared.

The 59-year-old’s comments, made in an interview with the Wall Street Journal yesterday, come after he told Wired he was retiring from his current position at Nintendo to focus on small scale video game development.

The Wired article sparked concern over Nintendo’s future, and was linked to a two per cent drop in the Japanese company’s share price.

The Wall Street Journal interview appears as a counter to that piece, and states Nintendo has created “organisational structures and a culture it thinks will be able to infuse his [Miyamoto’s] type of thoughtful yet fun designs into its products long after he is gone”. But, “he is very healthy and isn’t planning to retire any time soon.”

“”We have to construct the structure of the organization so that it can make it without me,” Miyamoto said.

“I should also admit that it might be better without me; I mean that a different approach and different talent might emerge, though I shouldn’t dwell on this because then the article might indeed say ‘Mr. Miyamoto is thinking about retiring,’ because that is not the case.”

Echoing his Wired comments, Miyamoto told the WSJ he would like to focus more time on small ideas, but qualified this by saying they could blossom into bigger games as time goes on.

After the publication of the Wired article Nintendo issued a statement insisting Miyamoto had no intention of stepping down.

“Shigeru Miyamoto’s role at Nintendo is not changing,” Nintendo said. “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.”