One of Nintendo's chief designers, Mario and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto, has spoken out to lament the "boring" sameness in video games today. In an interview with The Telegraph, Miyamoto said he understands the business appeal of the approach other companies take to game development, but said he aims to separate Nintendo by creating brand new experiences for players.
"What the other companies are doing makes business sense," Miyamoto said. "But it's boring. The same games appear on every system. At Nintendo, we want an environment where game creators can collaborate and think of ideas for games that could have never happened before."
This is not the first time Miyamoto has addressed the topic of sameness in games. In July, the industry veteran said he hasn't been blown away by new games, in part because "creativity is still immature" in the field of game development. Miyamoto's stance isn't entirely bleak, however, as he maintains that game development overall is in a "transitional phase," and more unique projects will come later on.
As for why video games often stick to the same formula instead of branching out, Miyamoto previously cited a quote from the late Nintendo executive Hiroshi Yamauchi, saying it is the nature of the entertainment business for one company to lead and others to follow with similar products. This is no different for video games, he said at the time.
Miyamoto's latest project was a series of Pikmin animated shorts, which you can watch right now.