What happens to Nintendo after Miyamoto retires?

Girl Gamer Elite

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Girl Gamer Elite on 26 November 2007

Legend11 said:
He's 55 now and barring any serious medical conditions or something else happening to him he'll likely work for at least another 10-15 years (people passionate about their work typically work well into old age) but what happens to Nintendo after he retires? The heart and soul of Nintendo is Miyamoto so it's hard to imagine what the company will be like without him.

Hard to say, but I'm sure you dream of the possibilities every night grinning ear to ear.

Erik Aston

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Erik Aston on 26 November 2007

Erik Aston said:
Nintendo's success isn't dependant on Miyamoto. See: the 1990's.

Nintendo lost it's way around 1990 with the launch of the SNES. They managed to be market leader during the all-destructive first "console wars" anyways. They declined further with the N64. Miyamoto made one masterpiece after another throughout the 90s, though, mostly in the platform and adventure genres. There's no doubt he was the greatest (most important) game designer of the 90s, just as he was for the 80s, and yet Nintendo declined throughout the whole decade, their saving grace being the non-internal Pokemon.

Right around the time the Gamecube launched, Nintendo found their way again. Iwata taking the helm was the biggest turning point. The Gamecube era became a rebuilding period, but the corporate culture was corrected at the start of this era. And now with DS and Wii, Nintendo is again taking over the world.

What did Miyamoto have to do with all this? He's proven he can make ground-breaking games even within a broken corporate culture and backwards business strategy, but his games don't make those failures disappear and make the company succeed. It was Yamauchi and especially Iwata rethinking the company's culture and strategy that allowed Miyamoto to create breakthrough games like Nintendogs and Wii Sports, but meanwhile Nintendo has also had breakthroughs like Brain Training and Animal Crossing that have little or nothing to do with Miyamoto.

Certainly it was Yokoi and Miyamoto that defined the Nintendo strategy of perpetual disruption in the first place, starting with Game and Watch and Donkey Kong. But only when the business people embrace the strategy does the company flourish. Miyamoto is certainly a valuable asset unlike any other in the gaming industry, but if Nintendo keep their current culture and strategy, they will succeed long after he's gone.

"[Our former customers] are unable to find software which they WANT to play."
"The way to solve this problem lies in how to communicate what kind of games [they CAN play]."

Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President. Only slightly paraphrased.

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TheBigFatJ on 26 November 2007

FishyJoe said:
If Microsoft can live without Bill Gates, I'm sure Nintendo can manage somehow.

Bill Gates is neither a technical expert nor a visionary. He's just an astute businessman.

Miyamoto, at the very least, is one of the greatest visionaries of our time.

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