In a recent investors Q&A session, Nintendo EAD general manager Shigeru Miyamoto told investors that he’s spending his time looking for the company’s next “big hit” instead of managing his employees.
“Now, I am spending more time than before on finding new ideas for new developments rather than focusing my energy on work in my (development) teams in order to solidify the contents of (existing) franchise titles", said Miyamoto. “After all, developing big hit titles must be the solution. I am acting with the understanding that one big hit title can change multiple phases of a situation in the entertainment business, and I feel that finding such one big hit is my basic job.”
Miyamoto admitted that it’s difficult to find stand-out talent directly out of college, and that Nintendo takes a longer view of an employee’s potential.
“People often say that you can make excellent products when you gather excellent people. However, when they are fresh out of college, nobody really stands out. Of course, some graduates received very high scores at school, and some did not. Ten years after entering a company, however, rather than how they scored at school, what kind of work they do in which phase makes the difference in their ability, I believe. So the question is, ‘10 years after joining Nintendo, is the company able to take advantage of each individual’s ability?’”
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata explained that news outlets misunderstood Miyamoto’s new focus as his retirement from the company.
“During one of the interviews he accepted abroad, Mr. Miyamoto commented that he always tells his subordinates that he’s going to retire soon, in order to nurture the young developers,” said Iwata.
“Mr. Miyamoto’s intention in making these remarks is to change the developers’ mindset because they will continue to believe that “this is Mr. Miyamoto’s responsibility, not ours” unless he encourages them to envision the workplace without him. Unfortunately, the article was reported as if Mr. Miyamoto had made his retirement announcement.”
Miyamoto has an excellent track record at finding the next thing, but all I really want is another Pikmin.
