Shigeru Miyamoto Is Not Jealous Of Pokemon GO, Talks About His Hobbies And More

The fourth party of the Weekly Famitsu’s interview with Nintendo fellow Shigeru Miyamoto has been translated into English by BlackKite.

First, Miyamoto spoke about not being jealous of Pokemon GO. He isn’t jealous of Pokemon GO’s success at all, and Miyamoto wants everyone to focus on the games he has created rather than himself. Thankfully, he’s still enjoying his job at his age, saying “If I’m not having fun, I’d be at a loss”.

Next, Miyamoto revealed that he had little to no involvement in the development of Ring Fit Adventure and Nintendo Labo, though he’s safely watching the developers making those games with a ‘high degree of freedom’. Miyamoto also said Nintendo wants to work with other companies while taking care of their own characters, as long as there are more opportunities for people to get in touch with Nintendo characters.

Third, Miyamoto spoke about his hobbies. These include DIY carpenter works and rearranging his room. His wife, though, likes gardening, and he would sometimes help her with “some ‘hardware’ help like arranging wood frames and pouring cement into them.”

Last but not least, Miyamoto elaborated on why Nintendo makes something never seen before:

“I did a number of lectures at CEDEC, saying such a thing while also talked that operating staff and managers are the ones who restrain the stretched creative staff in the workplace. If you were to say ‘It will sell if we make it like this’ without relying on the stretched ideas in the workplace, the result would end up being something that might exist in society. But something that might already exist would not sell, would it? (laughs) That’s why Nintendo makes something that’s never been seen before.”

And what late Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi said about that:

“Mr. Hiroshi Yamauchi was the one who said ‘Make something never seen before’. We came along that in a very stretched way. I think the difference is extremely big. That’s why I also said ‘To everyone in management, please tell people in the workplace to make things in a stretched way’ at CEDEC (laughs). [TN: The term ‘stretched’ here should mean to take your time and don’t be too hasty]

What do you think?