Despite announcing his retirement from Nintendo last month, legendary Mario and Zelda producer Takashi Tezuka has now stated he will still be involved with the company in some capacity. During Nintendo’s 2026 shareholders meeting, Tezuka revealed that he would still be working on games as a ‘production producer’ for the foreseeable future. As VGC notes, production producers typically work between creative and financial teams to oversee day-to-day development.
回答17
古川：手塚はファミコンソフトから関わってきた。今後も開発に関わっていく。あとは本人から。手塚：この度、任期満了で退任します。
42年間をふりかえってみて「楽しい仕事だったな」と感じました。
自分たちでおもちゃ屋にない遊びを手作りしていた。…— あれっくす (@NStyles) June 26, 2026
On Twitter, user Nstyles (who was present at the meeting) provided a transcript of Tezuka’s response when asked about his retirement. “Working at Nintendo has meant developing and delivering products that bring joy to people around the world,” Tezuka said. “It’s also a company where everyone works together and can flexibly create those products. I truly feel fortunate to have worked here. Going forward, I will continue to be involved as a production producer.” Current Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa also confirmed that Tezuka would remain involved with Nintendo.
Having been with Nintendo for over 40 years now, I can understand this decision. It’s hard to leave a position that has practically become your life, even if there is more to this world than work. For someone as acclaimed as Tezuka, it’s unlikely he’ll be returning to the nitty-gritty of game development, especially since Nintendo has a rather good habit of nurturing new talent to take over classic series’.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
