Wired reported tonight that Shigeru Miyamoto, the man behind Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and other beloved franchises, plans to retire from his current position at Nintendo in order to spend time working on smaller projects, with younger developers or simply on his own.
Miyamoto, 59, told Wired’s Chris Kohler that he’s been telling people in the office about his plans, but only that he will retire from his current position, not from the industry, or even Nintendo. In 2007, he told the blog Kotaku that he would die before leaving the company with which he built his fame.
“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.”
Coming off supervising the Fall releases of both Super Mario 3D Land and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Miyamoto said that he felt good in handing off the reins to younger designers in the company. “I’m saying this because I have a solid reaction from the existing teams,” Miyamoto said. “I was able to nurture the developers inside Nintendo who were able ot create something like this or something like that.
In his new role working on smaller projects, Miyamoto hopes to begin development on a project in 2012, and have something to show to the public within the year.
Update: This morning, as Nintendo’s stock dropped 2% on the Nikkei Stock Exchange, the company denied the Wired report.
“This is absolutely not true,” Nintendo spokespeople told Reuters. “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.”
Well the last "small" project Miyamoto worked on ended up being Pikmin, so I'd be sorta interested in seeing whatever he comes up with.
From the article it kinda sounds like he's not really liking the supervisory role Nintendo has backed him into over the last few years, having him oversee various projects based on his inventions rather than create something new. The guy is a creator - not a manager - and it sounds very much like he really wants to get back into the actual creation of games again, and the only way he can do so is by "semi-retiring".