Nintendo Legend Says AI Won't Completely Replace Human "Intent"

Shigeru Miyamoto Says Even If AI Takes Over, There Will “Always Be A Role Left For Us To Play" Published Oct 23, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT George is the Lead News Editor for TheGamer, and has been working in the industry since 2021 after graduating from the University of South Wales with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. He has also previously written for RPG Site, WhatCulture, and PlayStation Lifestyle. George is an expert on platformers, action games, and fighters, but tends to play as many releases as possible. This hands-on experience lets him dive into gaming communities and follow the latest trends. Some of the games George has extensively covered first-hand include Dead Rising, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and Ninja Gaiden 4. Sign in to your TheGamer account Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto has shared his thoughts on the rise of AI usage in game development, hopefully noting that humans will always have a role to play. As the sudden tidal wave of vibecoded decomp ports and AI-assisted mods have made very clear, AI tools have become so powerful over the past few months that they are sadly becoming invaluable for game development. While there are some positives to smoother development and an easier workflow, it’s still incredibly worrying to see how much the floodgates have been opened. If pretty much anyone can hop into Claude and suddenly pump out free browser ports for whatever game they can imagine, then it’s inevitable that full development teams are going to start relying on the tools more. Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto isn’t particularly worried about this, though, as he thinks human spirit will always be just as important. He Thinks It’s Dangerous For The Effort To Be Entirely Removed As reported and translated by VGC, Shigeru Miyamoto was asked about his viewpoint on the use of AI in game creation during a press conference that followed him accepting Japan’s Order of Culture. In response, Miyamoto noted that his generation lived through “a period of rapid computer development”, comparing it to how easy it used to be to be labelled a designer. That changed as computers advanced, which made “a designer’s true individual capabilities” much more important, something that he believes generative AI is “similar” to. While AI can be used to reduce the amount of work from developers, Miyamoto says the tricky part is that the “labor can actually be quite enjoyable”, which he thinks could be a danger if creators assume just creating something is enough. Miyamoto did find a silver lining to it, though, as he thinks that the more AI replaces tasks, the “more it provides an opportunity to reflect on what’s important”. He thinks that the work that stands the test of time isn’t created “merely by copying and pasting”, and that individual intent is more important than ever. More than anything, he believes that, “even if AI were to eventually handle everything, there will always be a role left for us to play”. All of this is to say that Miyamoto, and therefore likely Nintendo, are aware that AI is becoming more prevalent than ever in game development, and could even end up replacing most of the hard work that goes into creation. Even if that does become the case, it won’t ever be the only thing going into a game, and can’t match up to how important individual creativity and effort are.