Nintendo Dismisses Miyamoto Retiring as “Absolutely Not True”

Yesterday, we reported that Shigeru Miyamoto stated plans to step down from his current position as Senior Managing Director and General Manager of Nintendo’s Entertainment Analysis and Development Division. According to an interview with Wired.com Miyamoto stated that he wanted to work directly with younger designers and chose to retire from his current position so as to remind them that he will not always be around.

Since the interview has run, Reuters Japan made attempts to confirm this statement with Nintendo to which the company dismissed the possibility of Miyamoto-san claims of retirement as a possible misunderstanding. A Nintendo of Japan spokeswoman told Reuters:

“This is absolutely not true. There seems to have been a misunderstanding. [Miyamoto] has said all along that he wants to train the younger generation. He has no intention of stepping down. Please do not be concerned.”

Nintendo did confirm that Miyamoto-san will in fact be “reducing his involvement” on game development so that he can concentrate on working with younger designers at the company but will still play key roles in the development of major Nintendo titles. This morning an official statement concerning the whole debacle:

“Video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto’s role at Nintendo is not changing. He will continue to be a driving force in Nintendo’s development efforts. In discussing his priorities at Nintendo in a media interview, Mr. Miyamoto explained how he is encouraging the younger developers at the company to take more initiative and responsibility for developing software. He attempted to convey his priorities moving forward, inclusive of overseeing all video game development and ensuring the quality of all products. Mr. Miyamoto also discussed his desire to pursue fresh ideas and experiences of the kind that sparked his initial interest in video games.”

Not sure who provided the translator for this interview, but I find it a bit odd that Mr. Miyamoto specifically stated “I’m not saying that I’m going to retire from game development altogether. What I mean by retiring is, retiring from my current position,” during his interview. That is a very specific statement, not to mention the fact that there was a 2% drop in Nintendo’s stock by the close of trading on Thursday (the day the interview went live) in Japan. Hopefully this will not hurt the reputation and creditably of Wired.com as this whole situation just doesn’t feel right.