Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto scared everyone overnight when an interview with Wired quoted the Mario mastermind as saying that he planned to retire. Now, take a minute to imagine a video game industry without Miyamoto playing a part in it and I'm sure you can understand the panic attacks that Nintendo's stockholders experienced, as the company's stock dropped 2% once the news broke. That, in turn, led to Nintendo issuing a very quick statement explaining that Miyamoto was misunderstood and that he's not actually going anywhere. Here's Reuters with the report:
Nintendo Co Ltd on Thursday denied a report that Shigeru Miyamoto, widely seen as the world's most influential games designer, would step down from his current position and take a smaller role in the company.
Wired magazine had quoted the 59-year-old creator of popular games franchises including Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda as saying in an interview that he wanted to retire and work on smaller projects, passing the torch to younger designers.
"This is absolutely not true," said a spokeswoman for Nintendo. "There seems to have been a misunderstanding. He has said all along that he wants to train the younger generation.
"He has no intention of stepping down. Please do not be concerned."
Here's the relevant part of the Wired interview in which Miyamoto (via translator) clearly says that he intends to step down:
“Inside our office, I’ve been recently declaring, ‘I’m going to retire, I’m going to retire,’” Miyamoto said through his interpreter. “I’m not saying that I’m going to retire from game development altogether. What I mean by retiring is, retiring from my current position.”
“What I really want to do is be in the forefront of game development once again myself,” Miyamoto said. “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.”
That seems pretty clear to me. What I get from this is that Miyamoto wants to take a more active role in video game development beyond upending tea tables and offering hands-off guidance in his current producer role. Perhaps he wants to get his hands dirty and direct a title again. Whatever the change, I don't read this and believe that Miyamoto is ready to walk away from Nintendo entirely. He'll still be there, plugging away in his own unique way. No need to panic. At least, not outside Nintendo. Joystiq has a great guess at what's going on at the company's headquarters today:
There definitely appears to be a "misunderstanding," with Nintendo issuing a denial of Miyamoto's own quotes. We suspect there's currently a "misunderstanding" between Miyamoto, who wants to transition away from supervising massive projects, and Nintendo, who wants to put his name on every game.
I can understand Miyamoto wanting to change his role at the company, but I think this is one of those situations where the rest of the world needs him to carry on for the good of us all. We need him working to guide younger developers and provide a colorful, happy counterpoint to the gritty mainstream video game releases of today such as Call of Duty. There's plenty of room for games of all kinds, but without Miyamoto around to champion blue skies, I worry what the financial side of the industry will allow (and encourage) to happen to background colors that aren't brown, gray, or black.