Iwata Asks is “recharging right now”

4Gamer has gone live with an interview featuring Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. It’s the final interview in a series done by the Japanese website and Dwango’s Nobuo Kawakami.

One of the earlier parts of the discussion talks about how often Iwata is involved with interviews. Naturally, the chat shifted to the “Iwata Asks” series and what its status is at present. Iwata says that “our customers and even myself grew a little bored with it, so we decided to rest it for a while and it’s recharging right now, so to speak.”

Check out the full interview excerpts below:

Iwata: Thank you very much for your invitation today. I couldn’t refuse when Mr. Kawakami told me wanted me to appear as the ‘final boss’ in his series.

Kawakami & 4Gamer: Thank you!

4Gamer: It is quite rare for you to have an interview or long-form discussion, though, isn’t it, Mr. Iwata? At least, I feel like I haven’t seen one recently…

Iwata: Ah, that’s probably true. I’ve always been the one ‘asking’, so it has been quite a while since I have been ‘asked’ anything (laughs). Of course, I do a number of short interviews each year, but it has been quite a while since I’ve done this sort of long form interview.

Kawakami: Is you not doing many interviews a company policy?

Iwata: No, it’s usual for the boss to be asked questions. But doing the usual thing is not interesting. I started the ‘Iwata Asks’ project when I thought, ‘It’s unusual for the boss to ask questions, so doing it that way might be interesting’. I actually didn’t think it would continue for this long though…

4Gamer: The ‘Iwata Asks’ articles are something that the media could never write, don’t you think?

Iwata: Well, there are a lot of interesting stories that happen internally, and I definitely thought you’d never be able to get the developers talking about some of them if you didn’t make games yourself.
So, when we started, I had a good time, the readers seemed to enjoy it, and the people I interviewed said it was a very good way to wrap up their projects. Through speaking to developers, you can also create new possibilities, discover hints, and evaluate problems together so for me it’s like killing five birds with one stone.

Kawakami: Five birds with one stone (laughs)

Iwata: But of course, doing it for a long time, our customers and even myself grew a little bored with it, so we decided to rest it for a while and it’s recharging right now, so to speak.

Kawakami: But I find it really, really interesting and want to read more.

Iwata: We counted up all the interviews just the other day and there were over 200. Even I was surprised.