Ahead of the grand opening of the Nintendo Museum next month, Shigeru Miyamoto reaffirmed what the company has always been (and always will be): staying unique and not rushing to meet industry trends.
This is according to a recent interview with Famitsuwhere the legendary game designer laid out his hopes for the Nintendo Museum. By laying out the company’s history, Miyamoto hopes visitors will see how much Nintendo marches to the beat of its own drum — and how that can be a really great thing.
Rather than always trying to one-up others in the industry or succumbing to demands, Miyamoto told the Japanese publication, Nintendo has always stood its ground and released a product it believes in wholeheartedly. That might mean the company hasn’t invested as much in the console wars narrative, but it’s a sign that you can always trust the Big N to cook up something special.
Miyamoto’s full response can be found below. Note that the following comes from Famitsu via Google Translate, so the meaning may be slightly different from what can be found in the official translation (which we’ll be sure to update if it becomes available).
It would be a shame to let it sleep in the warehouse, so the main purpose is to put it where everyone, including employees, can see it, and it has nothing to do with medium and long-term strategies. However, I think the most important thing is that people from three generations come to this museum and think, “Nintendo is a company that is not associated with competing game makers as they usually say or with new cutting-edge technology.” Of course, we also deal with technological research. So far, analysts and other places have been saying all sorts of things like “Why aren’t you doing networks?”, “What about mobile devices?” and “Why don’t you use top-of-the-line chips?”, but if you look at the exhibits calmly, you’ll see that we’re doing it right. However, I think people are seeing that now is not the time to sell and that Nintendo’s history is to commercialize their products when the best time to sell comes. Seeing that, people can trust Nintendo. I think it’s a medium to long-term perspective in terms of shareholders and IR being able to trust Nintendo and leave it to us.
Those who have played the Wii, DS, Switch or any other Nintendo console (which we assume most of you reading) have certainly seen this approach in action. Nintendo is tends to follow its own path and this regularly results in something brilliant — strange and unexpected, but brilliant nonetheless.
It will be interesting to see how well the Nintendo Museum conveys this approach to development. The new attraction is set to open on October 2, providing an in-depth tour of the company’s history and a bunch of interactive exhibits to keep things interesting along the way. Of course, the exclusive merchandise looks pretty sweet too.
