In a new interview, Nintendo executives stated that they are skeptical of big budgets and want to rely instead on “new ideas.” Nintendo itself conducted the interview as part of its earnings briefing for this fiscal year, which ends March 2025 (you can find the full English translation here).
During the interview, various Nintendo executives–including Mario-creator Shigeru Miyamoto–were asked about the company’s recent efforts, such as the launch of Nintendo Music and the announcement of the Switch 2’s backward compatibility.
When asked about rising development costs throughout the video game industry, Miyamoto replied that the company wishes to cultivate good ideas and refine games until the developers are confident in what they’ve made. While this does have costs, not all games need to be expensive. Miyamoto said, “it is possible to create appealing products based on intriguing ideas, without incurring significant costs.”
Senior executive officer and corporate director Ko Shiota emphasized an efficient development environment. Because developers are already familiar with the Nintendo Switch, the company wishes to “maintain a similar basis for development environments,” according to Shiota. In conclusion, Shiota added, “I believe the most important thing for Nintendo is how we create new ideas. Bigger budgets do not necessarily equate to better ideas.”
In the same interview, Miyamoto said that he is not a genius. Nintendo also emphasized that it would generally prefer to “organically expand” rather than acquire new companies. News about the Nintendo Switch successor has been scarce, but leaks suggest an official announcement is set for sometime in the next five months. Alleged first images of the Switch successor leaked back in September.