Shigeru Miyamoto wants to keep Nintendo ‘special’ (IMDB)
The creator of Super Mario says he wants to keep Nintendo ‘special’ and not rely on artificial intelligence when making video games.
Artificial intelligence is an increasingly hot topic in the video games industry, as big players such as Xbox and EA embrace the technology, with the latter saying it can help cut down development time.
While many publishers try to find new ways to use AI, workers are worried it could come at the expense of their jobs, with a warning shot rifling through the air earlier this summer when a strike was granted for voice actors against AI.
On the other side of the table is Nintendo, which is reluctant to use AI at all, with Super Mario and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto saying he’d rather keep their games ‘special’.
‘Mr Yamauchi [a former Nintendo boss who first got the company into the games busienss] back in the day would tell us that we are not good at fighting: ‘We are weak – so don’t go picking fights with other companies,’ Miyamoto said in an interview with the New York Times.
That advice from the former president of Nintendo appears to have remained at the company long after he left in 2002, as Miyamoto later said:
‘It might seem like we are just going the opposite direction for the sake of going in the opposite direction, but it really is trying to find what makes Nintendo special,’ Miyamoto said.
‘There is a lot of talk about AI, for example. When that happens, everyone starts to go in the same direction, but that is where Nintendo would rather go in a different direction.’
Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom is Nintendo’s latest release (Nintendo)
The latest development in AI and gaming is Google’s achievement of teaching the technology to recreate the classic shooter Doom, although it’s not a perfect copy.
Before that The Screen Actors Guild union and Replica Studios announced a ‘groundbreaking AI voice agreement’, which sent unsuspecting artists into an understandable rage.
Last year Xbox went into a partnership with a company that would help it develop AI tools for its studios.
One of the biggest surprises of 2024, Palworld, was also accused of training AI to create Pokémon-like creatures for its game. Its developer is now being sued by The Pokémon Company for infringing on ‘multiple patent rights’.
However, while considerable parts of the video games industry wants to use of AI going forward, Nintendo is steadfast in keeping with more tradition methods. At least for now.
Nintendo is gunning for Palworld, also known as Pokémon with a gun (Pocketpair)
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