Miyamoto
Image: Nintendo Life

Update [Fri 5th Jul, 2024 10:15 BST]:

Nintendo has now added official translations from its shareholder Q&A. Here is the question relating to the age of Nintendo developers in full:

Q: I can imagine that the core developers at Nintendo are getting older. Are you considering handing over or transitioning future game production to the younger generation?

Furukawa: The generational transition for developers is a very important issue for our company, but I believe it is progressing smoothly and I have no concerns at all. Nintendo is a company with many young, talented developers.

Miyamoto: Although I am the eldest director, I have no concerns and feel comfortable with my job. When it comes to developing new games, we have a system in place that allows younger developers to take the initiative, and I believe the handover is going smoothly. However, those of the generation that took over have now become older themselves, so I would like to be able to hand things over to an even younger generation.

Personally, I find that if I'm not creating things, my days become boring and I become unable to create, so In some cases, I will continue to be heavily involved in game development, and I also want to be actively involved in fun ventures such as creating new IP that can gain interest worldwide.


Nintendo recently held its latest Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, during which questions were raised about the company, its practices, and of course, future hardware.

Rather unexpectedly, however, one question raised concerns regarding Shigeru Miyamoto's age and role at Nintendo, with the attendee noting their wish that creators "take care of their bodies".

The information here comes courtesy of @NStyles on social media, so until we receive the official translation from Nintendo, keep in mind that the wording may not be exact:

Q: I would like to ask Mr. Miyamoto a question. Creators are aging. I want them to continue making games, but I also want them to take care of their bodies. I would like to know if Miyamoto-san will continue to take the lead in making games.

A: Thank you for your concern. As expected, being the oldest among them makes me nervous. I feel comfortable working at the company. It's not that I don't look at game development at all, but I have the younger generation make it without doing any actual work, and I've been able to pass it on smoothly, but the people I've taken over the job from are also getting older, so it's better to have younger people make it. I also want to take over. I'm very involved with Pikmin Bloom, so I appreciate your support.

Of course, it should be noted that while Miyamoto is indeed still involved in endeavours such as Pikmin Bloom and the Super Mario Bros. Movie franchise, he also acts as a Representative Director for the company, so we imagine he's keeping himself pretty busy on a day-to-day basis. Here's hoping he continues his work for many more years to come.

Elsewhere, Nintendo also addressed fan interest in its game music and whether it would utilise streaming services in the future. Rather predictably, Nintendo didn't commit to anything and simply stated, "We recognize that people have an attachment to game music, so we hold concerts and other events. We believe that music is also necessary for expanding IP, so we want to use it to make people happy".

What do you think of Miyamoto's current role at Nintendo? Do you think he's likely to retire anytime soon? Let us know your thoughts with a comment.

[source x.com]