Miyamoto Banned from Talking About Hobbies
Tristan Oliver | August 12, 2008
Ban Hammer Hits as Succession Talks Increase
A report in UK newspaper The Times says that Mr. Mario himself, Shigeru Miyamoto, has been banned by Nintendo from publicly talking about his hobbies.
The move, according to the story, serves two purposes. For one, when Mr. Miyamoto took up various interests in the past couple of years, franchises such as Wii Fit and Wii Music were created, and both are expected to be sales blockbusters. (One, Wii Fit, already is.) Second, there is talk in the gaming industry about how Nintendo can top itself when the time comes for a next-generation console that succeeds the Wii. Nintendo’s sentiment is that anyone picking Mr. Miyamoto’s brain could net an idea worth tremendous amounts of money.
Some are speculating as to whether this is a publicity stunt by Nintendo meant to promote something bigger…perhaps the Wii successor. There’s no indication as to the truth of such rumors.
Filed Under Business & Industry, Gaming News, Nintendo
The irony is if Miyamoto has hobbies that could make huge amounts of money if made into video games, then so does everybody else. Music and general fitness are interests shown by a huge amount of people and are far from the only hobbies that have inspired video games (Hide and Seek inspired Metal Gear Solid for example). The formula of success that Nintendo has isn’t about just having access to hobby and game ideas , it’s in listening to a guy when he comes into the office one day and says “let’s make a game about weighing yourself!”