Nobody working on video games can ever argue against the amount of influence and inspiration that Shigeru Miyamoto has had on the medium. From the creation of early blockbusters like Donkey Kong to trailblazing three-dimensional design ideas in Super Mario 64, his many accomplishments have helped steer game-makers for decades. But one executive at Electronic Arts says Miyamoto Is "falling down on the job" and that there’s more to be learned from the touchscreen legacy left behind by iconic Apple leader Steve Jobs.
In comments made at the D.I.C.E. Europe conference, chief creative officer Richard Hilleman acknowledged Miyamoto’s influence but said that more players are likely to be influenced by games happening on non-Nintendo devices:
"I thank Miyamoto for that… But he's falling down on the job. And for the past five years that job has been taken over by a dead guy from Cupertino."
Hilleman also spoke about the challenges facing the games business now:
"Customers today... are generally looking for a single fabric of play. They want their game where they want it, when they want it, and at a price they can defend to other people."
While the seismic shift generated by smart-device gaming and the legions of cheaper, less time-intensive games is undeniable, there’s a bit of a false equivalency in comparing Miyamoto to Jobs.