Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto States ‘Passive’ Gamers Take Gaming for Granted

Issue 271 of Edge Magazine is filled with no shortage of enlightening Nintendo news. Yesterday, we shared quotes from Xenoblade Chronicles X's Tetsuya Takahashi and The Legend of Zelda's Eiji Aonuma regarding the size and openness of their upcoming games' world. As amazing as those were, it's the comments from legendary Mario and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto regarding his team's shift away from developing for casual gamers that will really turn heads.

ComputerAndVideoGames has pulled choice remarks from the massive Miyamoto interview in this month's Edge. On the topic of casual gamers, Miyamoto said:

Their attitude is, "okay, I am the customer. You are supposed to entertain me." It's kind of a passive attitude they're taking, and to me it's kind of a pathetic thing. They do not know how interesting it is if you move one step further and try to challenge yourself [with more advanced games].

This is a rather shocking statement, considering that Nintendo was all about expanding the market with Wii and DS. But thanks to the rapid growth of smart phone gaming, Miyamoto feels that Nintendo is no longer obligated to those customers, who have seemingly taken gaming for granted.

Nintendo as a whole continues to develop games for a wider audience, so I take Miyamoto's comments as indication either that the company is lightly scaling back on such projects or that the teams Miyamoto personally overseas are not developing for that audience. In any case, this is a rather candid response from one of the most influential figures in the business.

Edge Magazine #271 goes on sale tomorrow in print and digital formats.