Late last night, a Wired.com report stated that Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario and Zelda, had said he was "retiring".
Today, Nintendo denied that report.
According to the original Wired report, Miyamoto apparently said he was stepping down from his current management position so he could work on smaller projects with younger developers.
"What I really want to do is be in the forefront of game development once again myself," Miyamoto told Wired. "Probably working on a smaller project with even younger developers. Or I might be interested in making something that I can make myself, by myself. Something really small."
According to Nintendo, this does not mean he is stepping down. "This is absolutely not true," a Nintendo spokesperson told Reuters. "There seems to have been a misunderstanding. He has said all along that he wants to train the younger generation."
"He has no intention of stepping down. Please do not be concerned."
A Nintendo spokesperson also told Bloomberg that Miyamoto will be spending less time in development and more time training young game creators.
Nintendo of America also denied the Wired.com report, telling Kotaku:
Video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto's role at Nintendo is not changing. He will continue to be a driving force in Nintendo's development efforts. In discussing his priorities at Nintendo in a media interview, Mr. Miyamoto explained how he is encouraging the younger developers at the company to take more initiative and responsibility for developing software. He attempted to convey his priorities moving forward, inclusive of overseeing all video game development and ensuring the quality of all products. Mr. Miyamoto also discussed his desire to pursue fresh ideas and experiences of the kind that sparked his initial interest in video games.
The Wired.com report quoted Miyamoto as stating, "Inside our office, I've been recently declaring, 'I'm going to retire, I'm going to retire.'"
"I'm not saying that I'm going to retire from game development altogether," Miyamoto said, according to Wired.com. "What I mean by retiring is retiring from my current position."
Back in 2007, Miyamoto told Kotaku that retirement wasn't an option, stating, "Don't movie directors usually make films until they die? Annually, I don't make that much money. So I don't think I can retire."
Nintendo denies report games designer Miyamoto to retire [Reuters]
(Top photo by Kevork Djansezian | Getty)