Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s designer and producer has dismissed rumors of his retirement and has pointed towards the efforts of Nintendo’s younger creative talents in a recent interview.
Back in 2015, Miyamoto revealed that he was not actively involved in the development of the Switch (known then as the NX). Since then, rumors of his retirement have spread, especially as Super Mario Run has been his sole focus as of late.
Miyamoto spoke with Glixel and denied these rumors, saying they stemmed from a misunderstanding.
“Really at the time what we were talking about was giving more opportunity and more leadership opportunity to younger people in the company. So rather than me leading everything we were really expanding that role out to others that had come up”, he says.
“We have these younger people in the company who are taking the lead on Switch development and it’s really been them that have put this forward and designed this system. They’re the ones that have really shepherded it through the process.”
A similar approach was taken by Nintendo during Splatoon‘s development. This was led by producer Hisashi Nogami and directors Yusuke Amano and Tsubasa Sakaguchi, all fairly young and new to Nintendo.
We will learn more about the Switch once today’s presentation has aired. It’s due to air tonight at 8 p.m. PT/11 p.m. ET in the US.