Shigeru Miyamoto says that Nintendo will have to be more proactive in creating new characters, but has to be careful about it.
One thing Nintendo has continuously gotten stick for over the last decade or so is the tendency to rely on legacy series for its games. And while there have been more attempts at bringing something new to the table than many give it credit for (remember Codename S.T.E.A.M.?), a new IP – especially before 2015 or so – was a bit of a rare sight for Nintendo. However, Splatoon has proven that the sauce is still there, and has gone on to be one of Nintendo's premier franchises in its 11-year lifespan.
Speaking to Famitsu (via Nintendo Everything), Miyamoto says that "it’s good to create new characters," but the company has to be "strict in judging whether they’ll really work globally."
There have been a few, let's say, out-there titles in Nintendo's library that use pre-existing characters but almost feel like they belong to a different franchise (for example, Wario Master of Disguise), and Miyamoto admits that this happens at the company. "Even during the development of Splatoon, there were times when we thought, 'If the characters are going to be like this, wouldn’t it be better to just use Mario?' And then, when we came up with the prototype for the Inklings that are out there now, we realized, ‘With these, there’s no need to use Mario.'"
Aside from Nintendogs, the last new franchise Miyamoto was listed as coming up with the original concept for was Pikmin in 2001. He explains, "It’s been 25 years since I arrived at Pikmin, which was the result of my own pursuit of a globally appealing character, so we need to be more proactive to create new ones." However, don't expect it to come from Miyamoto, as he says, "I’ll leave that to the younger generation," which he did with Splatoon.
