Nintendo’s Miyamoto comments on fan reaction to retirement rumors

Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto gave the world (or at least fans/investors of Nintendo) a scare when it was reported he was stepping down from his position.  Luckily, the reports were false and Nintendo released a statement confirming that Miyamoto was not going anywhere.

While Miyamoto is still at Nintendo, he's taken a more active role in encouraging the younger developers at the company to take more initiative and responsilbity for developing software.  With that being said, Miyamoto remains humbled and surprised by fan reaction to the retirement rumors.

“I was pretty surprised with the reactions that the people had against the comment that I made,” said Miyamoto to the Associated Press. “I really appreciate all the kindness given the kind of comments I made. But to be clear, I have no intention to retire at all. I'm not old enough to think about retirement right now, but everybody has to retire at some point. I wanted to make clear that we are preparing for that.”

Miyamoto played a role in three very recent successful titles for Nintendo including Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Mario Kart 7.

"The cycle is going to remain so that good characters and franchises can just go on forever," Miyamoto said.  In fact, Miyamoto fully expects his characters to outlive him.

Right now, Shigeru Miyamoto is working on Pikmin 3 for Wii U, Luigi's Mansion 2 for 3DS, and an "undisclosed title".

“People have come to expect a lot from me. This certainly makes me feel some pressure,” noted Miyamoto. “But if you ask me, ‘Is it too much pressure to try to come out with something new?’ I have to say no, I’m enjoying myself. But when I make something, I always try to do my best.”