Miyamoto Stepping Down? Nintendo Doesn’t Think So

Everyone’s video game dad, Shigeru Miyamoto, seems to be stepping down from his position at Nintendo. But according to Nintendo, this isn’t the case.

According to Wired, the creator of Super Mario Brothers and The Legend of Zelda will be stepping down from his current position with Nintendo, but will remain with the company to work on smaller games. The 59-year-old head of Nintendo’s design department told Wired in an interview that he will be passing the torch to younger designers within the company.

“Inside our office, I’ve been recently declaring, ‘I’m going to retire, I’m going to retire,’” He told Wired through his interpeter. “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.”

“What I really want to do is be in the forefront of game development once again myself,” Miyamoto explained. “Probably working on a smaller project with even younger developers. Or I might be interested in making something that I can make myself, by myself. Something really small.”

“In other words, I’m not intending to start from things that require a five-year development time,” he said.

Nintendo, however, disagree that Miyamoto will be stepping down at all.

"This is absolutely not true," a spokeswoman from Nintendo said."There seems to have been a misunderstanding. He 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’s denial about Miyamoto stepping down comes after a 2 percent drop in shares.

[Source: Wired, Reuters]