Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto on GTA’s influence in 2003: "Our duty is to produce alternatives"
Winding back the clock to the early 2000s, when Grand Theft Auto first started making headlines with back-to-back hits like Grand Theft Auto III (2001), GTA: Vice City (2002), and GTA: San Andreas (2004), Nintendo was quietly observing Rockstar’s success in the background. Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto looked at these games and decided to go in the opposite direction by offering something entirely different.
Early in 2003 (as archived by the Web Archive via Miyamoto Shrine), legendary designer and director Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong, spoke to Sweden’s Superplay magazine, around the time of the release of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
The early 2000s were all about gritty, dark, and grounded titles, and that led even beloved games like The Wind Waker to draw criticism from older teenagers, who called it too vibrant, cartoonish, or “kiddie” compared to the cool, edgy vibe of Grand Theft Auto. Miyamoto didn’t hesitate to address these ideas directly. He said:
The games industry is broader than ever, and there are many different ways to produce a game these days. Apparently, many older gamers like Grand Theft Auto, but that doesn’t mean Nintendo will develop similar games. Instead, it’s our task to find new ways to create substitutes. It is our duty to produce alternatives to GTA.
Miyamoto went on to describe his philosophy for creating video games: games should be for both kids and adults, shouldn’t cater to a specific demographic, and should uphold ethical boundaries. He further explained:
I have never intended to make games for a specific age group. I want to make games for both kids and adults. I think it’s important that we producers keep things within moral and ethical borders. I actually think that game designers have some responsibility for what we create. Of course, the freedom of art and the right to speak are important, but we should be careful with what we create. Games are interactive entertainment and can affect young people.
In retrospect, Nintendo hasn’t changed much of its philosophy, aside from releasing the GTA Trilogy: The Definitive Edition for the Nintendo Switch, GTA: Chinatown Wars during the Nintendo DS’s heyday, alongside a few GTA titles for the GBA.
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