One of the really impressive things about Nintendo is their corporate culture has encouraged passing on of institutional knowledge to younger minds within the company. Shigeru Miyamoto is coming up on retirement age, and some of us have been wondering how Mario and Zelda would fare without him. Well, we needn't wonder: Miyamoto was not very actively involved in the development of Mario Odyssey or Breath of the Wild, and those games turned out great.
And, as the article says, in Japan! There has been some fair criticism of the Japanese games market lacking in innovation compared to the West. Their indie scene is pitiful, AAA games stuck in 90s mechanics with fairly boring use of modern 3D hardware and a complete avoidance of online gaming trends. But, except for the online thing (although Splatoon might be among the strongest Japanese contenders), Nintendo manages to be maybe the most innovative AAA game developer in the world (especially when you consider their integration of hardware innovation in input devices). It’s quite remarkable. It’s an example of a very different culture being able to arrive at success in entirely different ways. It’s refreshing.
