Miyamoto: More than a man?

Well there’s Donkey Kong... Mario, Link, and Zelda. You also have to count Fox McCloud, and even Captain Falcon. The man behind all of these beloved characters and their respective franchises is the legend Shigeru Miyamoto. This week during an exclusive interview on Wired’s Game|Life blog, Miyamoto discussed his interest in developing smaller independent games that he could focus on by himself. In the interview, however, what started as a quote from his playful banter in the office regarding his desire to step down from his current position at Nintendo turned into a misinterpreted nightmare to the world around him.

Nintendo went out of their way to rectify the miscommunication and educate everyone on how Miyamoto is going nowhere. This prompts a question, however, with Miyamoto’s desire to develop smaller games, and his amazing talents towards channeling experiences of a very large scope: can the Game designer turned director manage a way to do both?

The responsibility of a Game Director overseeing development is to work with a team of members under you, as you assess the progress of development, stage by stage and day by day. You could say that the role of being a director is comparable to being a general within a tower-defense game, and every designer-like soldier that is carefully managed by him. He must make sure they reach their goal and ensure the highest quality within their performance. In a scenario where the general is out on the front-lines himself, the question comes to mind on whether or not his focus can be split into different roles effectively. In the words of John Rambo, “Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don't turn it off! It wasn't my war!”

One would have to imagine when you first approach this idea, what kind of outlets would make use of Miyamoto’s desire. Being that Nintendo is a company focused on proprietary distribution, the only outlets that seem feasible would be for either WiiWare or DSiWare. These outlets alone suffer from numerous issues regarding proper market exposure for release or the lack of any user ratings or community forums, and not mention that Nintendo’s participation within these outlets is an understatement at best. With the flawed distribution models, it doesn’t make sense for Miyamoto to spend the effort unless he has the proper support from Nintendo, but let’s just say this does happen... let’s go further down this hypothetical road, and find that the attention and support for both WiiWare and DSiWare turn around, all thanks the output of Miyamoto’s new software. What kind of effect will this have on Nintendo’s triple A titles?

Shigeru Miyamoto has kept busy as of late, with his supervision over Super Mario 3D Land and Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, two heavy hitters for Nintendo’s first-party lineup. The strong dependence on these titles to carry Nintendo along through the fourth quarter for the holidays, and these titles demand the kind of attention that couldn’t spare a second of neglect. Granted, Nintendo didn’t have a lot going on for 2011, other than the aforementioned titles and the much needed (yet delayed) support for its fledgling new portable, so applying this new experimental work model would have been ideal this year. However, with a new year and a new console platform on the horizon, the future is less than ideal, with the focal point most likely being aimed towards full-fledged developed experiences for the Wii U. But imagine a canabalt-esque Kirby release, which is only one of many possibilities that Miyamoto could tackle, poising the additional option of him being able to take on franchises he’s never worked directly with before, and take them in another direction. Or better yet, he could develop a brand new IP that envelops into something worthy of a retail expansion through full studio effort.

The casual nature of a smaller release without the shovel-ware treatment relying on simple novelty to make a few bucks, this could finally be a thing of the past. What we could get instead? The care and concentrated innovation of Miyamoto’s trademark whimsy and charm concentrated into a control linear experience that goes to the simple lengths of simply providing you a joyous waste of time.

The future is unclear on what path Shigeru will take, but the initial panic was directed at Shigeru leaving Nintendo, even though he stressed that he wanted to change direction in his career. Nonetheless, he would still be involved within the industry. It’s a sign of the times when one of the few traditional forces within the industry desires to change gears, in order to keep and continue to remain relevant in his trade. Hopefully Nintendo will take notice in the same manner that the news of his mistaken retirement drove them to speak out because of the gradual loss in stock price is any indication, than Nintendo will need to get in or be ready to get out.