Shigeru Miyamoto No Longer Plays Games Himself, Highlighting Nintendo's Approach to Hiring Not Just Gamers
Miyamoto handed the Master Sword over to his grandchildren. The man behind titles like Zelda and Mario says he rarely plays video games anymore — except when the kids come around. Known for filling his life with pursuits outside the screen, he’s long argued that having interests beyond games is useful when building them.
In a Famitsu interview, Miyamoto described how his gaming has changed. Asked about the Switch, he laughed and said, "Well, I no longer play games alone." He keeps a few games at home so visits from the grandchildren turn into joint sessions rather than solo play.
If they have video games at their house, my grandchildren play them too much, so I keep them at my place and say, 'If you want to play, come to grandpa,' he explains.
The little ones can’t get through the games on their own, so I think it’s easier for them when we play together. They are very scared of the boss in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, so I play that game for them.
It might feel odd at first that the creator of such influential franchises isn’t a regular player now. Still, his off-screen activities have repeatedly fed into his ideas for games: his music-making inspired Wii Music (e.g., playing instruments); a fondness for dogs led to Nintendogs; time spent tending a garden helped spark Pikmin. Those personal interests show up in the work, not as checklist items but as small, concrete influences.
He’s also carried that outlook into hiring. In a 2017 New York Times conversation, Miyamoto said he deliberately seeks designers who aren’t solely focused on games.
I always look for designers who are not hardcore game fans and try to make sure they’re not just gamers, but have a wide range of interests and diverse skills, he said.