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At Nintendo’s 84th annual shareholders meeting held on June 27, 10 AM JST, one of the company’s representative directors Shigeru Miyamoto addressed concerns about his own age and health, as well as that of Nintendo’s active game developers.

Miyamoto, the creator of some of Nintendo’s best-selling franchises such as Mario and The Legend of Zelda, joined the company back in 1977, and will turn 72 this year. Although Miyamoto has yet to announce his retirement, the topic is of interest to shareholders.

A big creator’s retirement can leave an unfillable void for game companies and their ongoing franchises, leading to a loss of key skills and know-how accumulated through years of experience. This is why developers leaving without sufficient handover processes is a concern often addressed to companies with long legacies, like Nintendo.

According to an attendee of this year’s meeting for Nintendo’s shareholders, Miyamoto was asked about the issue of creators aging, and whether he will continue to be at the helm of game development projects considering his age. In response, Miyamoto remarked, “I consider (Nintendo’s) generational handover to be progressing smoothly. We have developers that are young and brilliant.”

Expressing gratitude for the inquiry about his wellbeing, Miyamoto notes that he is working comfortably, and that while he is leaving most of the practical development work to younger generations, he is not detached from the process either. The creator also emphasizes that he is fully involved in Pikmin Bloom’s development.

According to Miyamoto, he has successfully transferred know-how to the next generation, but since this generation is also growing older, he wants to make sure generational handover expands to encompass even younger employees.

Nintendo says generational handover is going smoothly - “We have young and brilliant developers” - AUTOMATON WEST

Nintendo's representative director Shigeru Miyamoto addressed concerns about the age of the company's developers.

automaton-media.com

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

 

[T-0800]

Meanwhile MS have some new contractors ready to do their 12 month shift.

 

[nush]

He's morphing into Tom Scott.

 

[amigastar]

Thats good to hear, Nintendo should deliver those awesome experiences. Yes i grew up with Nintendo games so they are part of my life.
Even though they are a company and looking for maximizing their profit, that i also know.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

First time hearing this term “generational handover”.

Nintendo is next level.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

Their new device is gonna slap.

 

[Hudo]

I think fostering institutional knowledge and then implementing a process to successfully hand that knowledge over (and maybe also not being afraid to question certain things from time to time) is the most important thing a company has to do.
And most big-ass companies, especially companies that belong to "big tech", are absolute fucking garbage at it.

So it's good to see that Nintendo are at least aware and trying (let's see how successful this is)

 

[Robb]

Good to hear.

Iirc Super Mario Bros. Wonder had a lot of new/young devs behind it, so I don’t doubt what he’s saying because that game is the best 2D Mario since forever.

Looking forward to seeing what more new ideas they bring to the table.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

No that can't be right. I thought stressed out wage slaves on 6 months contracts deliver far better quality in software development, especially when there's no transfer of experience from the older collegues because there are none (all let go because the previous project didn't meet the sales expectations of the stakeholders). Everybody knows the best products are produced under the enlightened guidance of management geniuses who just came in from some completely unrelated foreign branch of business / different industry.

 

[Hudo]

No that can't be right. I thought stressed out wage slaves on 6 months contracts deliver far better quality in software development, especially when there's no transfer of experience from the older collegues because there are none (all let go because the previous project didn't meet the sales expectations of the stakeholders). Everybody knows the best products are produced under the enlightened guidance of management geniuses who just came in from some completely unrelated foreign branch of business / different industry.

My grandparents worked for one company respectively their whole lives. And told me that this was "quite normal".

 

[GigaBowser]

nintendos are genius they make so many games im sorry my friends switch 2 over 100 million again bookmarked

 

[PaintTinJr]

Nintendo says generational handover is going smoothly - “We have young and brilliant developers” - AUTOMATON WEST

Nintendo's representative director Shigeru Miyamoto addressed concerns about the age of the company's developers.

automaton-media.com

As a multi-decade Nintendo and Man United fan 2013/2014 was a tough year - by which time SAF had retired and the WiiU, Nintendo's last Iwata/Miyamoto lead hardware/software was already wrongly DOA.

After finishing 8th last season with the worst United football I have ever watched, and still the manager has been kept on with contract extension incoming, and my dislike for most of Nintendo's work since the WiiU I do not expect the generational-handover to work at all...on the United front it has been over ten seasons of failure and counting..

 

[TheGodfather07]

As a multi-decade Nintendo and Man United fan 2013/2014 was a tough year - by which time SAF had retired and the WiiU, Nintendo's last Iwata/Miyamoto lead hardware/software was already wrongly DOA.

After finishing 8th last season with the worst United football I have ever watched, and still the manager has been kept on with contract extension incoming, and my dislike for most of Nintendo's work since the WiiU I do not expect the generational-handover to work at all...on the United front it has been over ten seasons of failure and counting..

I'm genuinely shocked they have decided to stick with ten hag. They often looked like a lower league side last season.

 

[The Skull]

Meanwhile MS have some new contractors ready to do their 12 month shift.

Just spat water all over my work monitor. Well done, take a bow.

 

[TheGodfather07]

nintendos are genius they make so many games im sorry my friends switch 2 over 100 million again bookmarked

Watch as Nintendo don't name it switch 2 and completely kill all their momentum. Always gotta be innovative and creative instead of just doing the obvious thing. I still wonder who's idea it was to call the wii successor wii u, instead of wii 2. All they had to do was call it that, give it improved motion controls and they would have carried on their momentum from the wii.

 

[GigaBowser]

Watch as Nintendo don't name it switch 2 and completely kill all their momentum. Always gotta be innovative and creative instead of just doing the obvious thing. I still wonder who's idea it was to call the wii successor wii u, instead of wii 2. All they had to do was call it that, give it improved motion controls and they would have carried on their momentum from the wii.

wii momentums dead in 3 years Switch still strong after 8 new Switch called Switch Advance Wii U worstest name ever

 

[IAmRei]

Hopefully it will be great, best wishes for them (because it will affect the fans, and also me too)

 

[Oberstein]

Thank goodness Nintendo and Japanese companies in general don't hire "activists" as developers or project managers, or force them to conform to the new religion of the moment.

As a reminder: https://www.neogaf.com/threads/leaked-insomniac-inclusivity-training-video.1665170/

 

[Jesb]

Thank goodness Nintendo and Japanese companies in general don't hire "activists" as developers or project managers, or force them to conform to the new religion of the moment.

As a reminder: https://www.neogaf.com/threads/leaked-insomniac-inclusivity-training-video.1665170/

I bet you don’t see green haired people confused about what gender they are there.

 

[NanaMiku]

Hopefully they can keep this momentum going with Switch 2

 

[Boss Mog]

No cancerous DEI in Japan, so I don't doubt it. The best people get hired, as it should be.

 

[SaiyanRaoh]

As long as this generational handoff isn’t fresh from his/her/their/it/propellers gender studies degree with a dash of programming from some Californian university, I’m cool with it:

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Great so there's a new generation that can crank out innovative new IPs like Zelda, Mario and Pokemon.

 

[Punished Miku]

Teach the young ones about Wave Race.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

They've been diligently working on this for a decade now, this isn't new. The obsession with his age is silly, he's there for advice and expertise, he's not relied on to make sure games are completed on a deadline. Things like that haven't been his responsibility for a long time now.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Thank goodness Nintendo and Japanese companies in general don't hire "activists" as developers or project managers, or force them to conform to the new religion of the moment.

As a reminder: https://www.neogaf.com/threads/leaked-insomniac-inclusivity-training-video.1665170/

Nintendo doesn't do "trends", they run away from them. That's always been the case.

 

[Hudo]

Teach the young ones about Wave Race.

Also F-Zero

 

[SportsFan581]

I think fostering institutional knowledge and then implementing a process to successfully hand that knowledge over (and maybe also not being afraid to question certain things from time to time) is the most important thing a company has to do.
And most big-ass companies, especially companies that belong to "big tech", are absolute fucking garbage at it.

So it's good to see that Nintendo are at least aware and trying (let's see how successful this is)

This, plus they have a very specific energy/style to most of their output. That might make this kind of thing a lot more important to them.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Also F-Zero

F-Zero 99. They know. I'm sure something is planned, just a matter of them getting around to it.

 

[Fake]

While japanese devs are doing great, western is in colapse.

 

[BossLackey]

While japanese devs are doing great, western is in colapse.

Yeah, it's like they're not even in the same industry. Japan has a TON of problems around work culture, but there are certain things they just do "right".

Good thing most of my games come from there.

 

[Mr Hyde]

I call BS on this. Nintendo is absolutely shitting their pants right now in sheer panic, fearing another Wii U-fumble.

 

[mrcroket]

I call BS on this. Nintendo is absolutely shitting their pants right now in sheer panic, fearing another Wii U-fumble.

Nintendo handhelds have not failed in 35 years. Why would they do so now after their second biggest success in videoconsole?