Is it not amazing with all these stories coming out with Miyamoto saying ‘I’m not stepping down’, that Wired’s Chris Kohler has been silent. There has been no ‘correction’. None of the quotes have been retracted. It is only that we ‘misunderstand’ things… things which Miyamoto said as a direct quote.
What I see is Wired taking the heat where it should be Miyamoto taking the heat. Whose fault is it if anything is misunderstood? Is it the journalist who accurately quoted Miyamoto or is it Miyamoto himself? Yet, somehow this guy is never at fault for anything.
Anyway, here is the latest story on him not ‘retiring’.
Miyamoto said he would continue to oversee development of Nintendo’s games, but would increasingly delegate more responsibility to younger designers at the company. He said he did want to work on new projects, though, starting with a focused team.
Delegating responsibility is retirement. Miyamoto confirms it. This matches exactly what was said in the Wired article.
Apparently this reporter lacks curiosity. Miyamoto says he wants to start on ‘new projects’. Well, what has Miyamoto been doing all this time? What was Wii Music or Wii Fit but ‘new projects’? I love how Miyamoto says this as if he hasn’t been doing any new projects at all and only now gets to embark on this path. What a crock.
“Whenever we try to create something brand new, we have to start from a very small, capable team,” he said. “When a big company is trying to do something really new, it’s not a good idea for many people to work on it from the start.”
So what does any of that have to do with him ‘retiring’? The reporter does not ask. He just allows Miyamoto to go on. Nintendo has always had the policy of the above. Why is it necessary for Miyamoto to ‘delegate’ and work with ‘smaller teams’?
“Until the time that we are ready to commercialize it, it’s not something we can disclose,” he said.
This is a red flag statement. It reveals what Miyamoto wants to do is not work on commercial projects. What’s the point of working on something if you aren’t going to commercialize it? Nintendo is not the university or a government center. The idea of anyone working on something that doesn’t lead to a commercial end is ridiculous.
“You are making too much of this,” says the reader. “He refers to only when it is ready to be commercialized.”
In other words, he is talking and research and development. He won’t have to worry about sales quotas there. It’s a plum job.
Everything about these stories has my gut saying, “Miyamoto wants to do what he wants to do. He wants to be free from the ever growing commercial demands.” Geniuses, however, embrace such demands.