Shigeru Miyamoto, the mastermind behind Mario, Zelda, and other blockbuster franchises, isn’t worried that smartphones are hurting the traditional gaming market.  As long as great experiences are offered, everything will be fine.

Miyamoto spoke with the New York Times regarding the impact that smartphones have had on traditional gaming hardware.  In Japan, for instance, he noted that smartphone sales have surged to the point where some people have said that they no longer need a portable gaming device or a console.  While that may be true for some, he cited the popularity of Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan as an example of how traditional hardware is here to stay.

He added: “And what we're seeing is that the people playing it primarily are adult women.  And adult women also happens to be the same group of people that has been rapidly adopting cellphones over the last couple of years.”

According to Miyamoto, this just shows how unpredictable the entertainment business can be.  “Entertainment is this thing that moves around from place to place. You have a theme park like Disneyland, and that's a form of entertainment," he said. "And at the same time you have small, downloadable software for your smartphone that you can play, and that's entertainment. Nintendo's stance, over all, is that we don't know where entertainment will take us next.”

In the end, Miyamoto said that it’s all about the experience offered.  “As long as we're able to provide an entertainment experience that people want to play, they're more than happy to purchase another device to carry around with them alongside their smartphone.”

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