This week’s Bloomberg tech newsletter includes some additional Nintendo info left out of their recent long-form report. Click the link above to read it in full; I’ll highlight only one aspect:
each member of the team would voluntarily rework and improve their part of the project right up to the final day
One particle-effect artist spent all his spare time tinkering with Nintendo’s stage editor and eventually got reassigned to do the work that drew his interest. Watanabe himself secretly built a level for Pikmin 3 that was good enough to be adopted in the final game.
“Whether it turns out to be a blockbuster or a huge flop, the company lets you just focus on building what you believe to be fun, without distraction,” Imamura said.
This explains the company culture that’s brought us some lows (commercially), but also many wondrous highs.
[Originally posted on 2025-09-05 Pacific Time]
