Shigeru Miyamoto Says It Would Be Strange Not To Retire

Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo pioneer, says it would be strange not to retire.

Shigeru Miyamoto is the man who invented The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Super Mario, and single-handedly (albeit with help from the marketing team) kept Nintendo from going under. The godfather of Nintendo recently announced that he is retiring, and he says it would be strange if he didn’t.

Shigeru Miyamoto is not retiring right away, but he’s preparing his company for when he does. The face of Nintendo told GameSpot:

“This year I’m past 60; I’m going to be turning 61 this year. So for me to not be thinking about retirement would be strange. But in fact, the number of projects I’m involved in – and the volume of my work – hasn’t changed at all.”

Shigeru Miyamoto says he is preparing Nintendo for his departure by pretending to only do half of his work, so, when he does leave, it won’t be such a shock:

“Instead, what we’re doing internally is, on the assumption that there may someday be a time when I’m no longer there… what I’m doing is pretending like I’m not working on half the projects that I would normally be working on to try to get the younger staff to be more involved.”

Shigeru Miyamoto believes that his new way of working will stop everyone from looking to him so much for input. It’s the same as any business where one employee is central to the entire process. If that one person suddenly leaves, it’s a shock to the whole system and it becomes an emergency to restructure the work force to maintain efficiency. This is the problem that Shigeru Miyamoto is attempting to avoid before his retirement and eventual departure from Nintendo.

Shigeru Miyamoto says he’s aiming on getting the producers to please the consumer instead of him:

“And as I like to say, I try to duck out of the way, so that instead of them looking at me, they’re looking at the consumer and trying to develop their games with the consumer in mind rather than me in mind.”

Do you think it’s strange that Shigeru Miyamoto is setting up Nintendo for his retirement?

Shigeru Miyamoto: “For me to not be thinking about retirement would be strange.” gamespot.com/6404904

— GameSpot.com (@gamespot) March 6, 2013