‘Outside’ developers disappointed Nintendo, says Miyamoto

Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto has told Entertainment Weekly that Nintendo was disappointed with the results outsourced development on newer Namco and Sega produced Starfox and F-Zero games, saying that the titles failed to live up to expectations.

"In the past we’ve worked with some outside development houses on titles like F-Zero and Starfox — and let me just say that we were disappointed with the results. Consumers got very excited about the idea of those games, but the games themselves did not deliver."

His comments came during an interview which reiterated many of the points he delivered to the industry during his GDC keynote in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, urging developers to follow their instincts and the reactions to players when making games.

When asked about the risk-averse attitudes of American games publishers, he answered: "With rising budgets, I understand why game companies have a great deal of concern if they don’t design games in this way. But you need to create what you want to create! In that sense, I would really like to see people develop games like I do. When I show a game to people I don’t ask their opinion or give them a survey. I just watch their eyes and their face while they play. Do they smile? Do they look frustrated? So I guess I do test my games — but it isn’t very scientific."

He added: "I could make Halo. It’s not that I couldn’t design that game. It’s just that I choose not to. One thing about my game design is that I never try to look for what people want and then try to make that game design. I always try to create new experiences that are fun to play."