Update: Nintendo has now denied that Miyamoto is stepping down.
Original story:
Mario still to this day is probably the most popular video game character on the planet, and we all have Shigeru Miyamoto to thank. Miyamoto, however, is getting up in age (59) and he'd very much like to get back in the development trenches rather than overseeing huge projects as he's done in recent years as the head of Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development. According to Wired, Miyamoto is passing the torch to younger designers at Nintendo so he can dedicate himself to smaller games.
“Inside our office, I’ve been recently declaring, ‘I’m going to retire, I’m going to retire,’” Miyamoto remarked. “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. 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.”
The man behind Mario, Donkey Kong and Zelda no longer wants to helm projects that take several years to complete. He's hoping to start work on his own project in 2012 and would like to be able to show it off publicly within a year.
This is a huge change for Nintendo and of course for Miyamoto himself. While he's not retiring just yet, the reality is that he will one day indeed be leaving Nintendo, and he wants to make sure that talented designers who have been working for him have what it takes to push Nintendo forward.
“The reason why I’m stressing that is that unless I say that I’m retiring, I cannot nurture the young developers,” he said. “After all, if I’m there in my position as it is, then there’s always kind of a relationship. And the young guys are always kind of in a situation where they have to listen to my ideas. But I need some people who are growing up much more than today.”
