Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto has said he’s aware of a limit to the number of people who will play the company’s games — which is one of the reasons he’s keen for Mario to expand into a movie franchise.
Speaking to Polygon, Mario’s creator said the mascot had “always evolved alongside the evolution of digital media,” and was now able to reach an audience beyond video games.
“As we approach Mario and developing Mario games, I start to feel like there’s only so many people that we can reach through Nintendo’s systems and consoles,” Miyamoto said. “And so now with things like digital streaming and the expanse and the reach of what the technology allows now, I feel like that’s a great way to get Mario involved too, and really be able to evolve alongside with digital media.”
“So going from being able to have a touchpoint with Nintendo only through Nintendo consoles, we want to expand,” Miyamoto continued. “We’ve been able to expand it so that they can have a touchpoint with Nintendo characters through various media. In that way, instead of people thinking, ‘What kind of game is Nintendo going to come up with now?” I would love for them to think about, ‘What kind of world Nintendo will expand on now.’ That’s the kind of approach and thinking I have currently.”
Indeed, Miyamoto has taken on a far more senior role at Nintendo in recent years to do just this, less focused on game development and more on expanding the company’s franchises through projects such as its Mario and upcoming live-action Zelda movies, as well as the Super Nintendo Land theme park attractions.
Miyamoto’s recent appearances in Nintendo Direct broadcasts have been almost exclusively focused on revealing news on such projects — which appear to be keeping him busy. Last year saw the launch of a Pikmin short film, the first release from the company’s newly-revealed Nintendo Pictures division. There’s also clearly plans for many more Mario cinematic universe movies in the warp pipeline, including an unannounced but leaked Donkey Kong spinoff and the inevitable third Super Mario Movie, which Jack Black seems to think will launch in 2029.
It’s intriguing to hear such comments from Miyamoto following the enormous success of Nintendo Switch — the company’s most successful console ever — and the explosive arrival of Switch 2, its best-selling console at launch, even if sales have since slowed slightly. Perhaps it’s to be expected that Nintendo understands video games will only ever reach a certain global audience. Nintendo has repeatedly tried (and succeeded) to grow the overall reach of its games through mass market propositions — going back to the days of Wii and DS with hits such as Wii Fit and Brain Training.
But in a world where Nintendo isn’t just competing with Sony and Xbox for your time and money, and even Sonic the Hedgehog has his own successful film franchise, the company clearly understands its characters are valuable enough to extend to the big screen and beyond.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has already begun breaking box office records this week, despite middling reviews. Nintendo’s blockbuster sequel earned $34 million in the U.S. on Wednesday, making for the best opening day of the year so far.
Image credit: Yuichi Yamazaki / AFP via Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
