Miyamoto says publishers should see game ownership like a "toy company"

Games industry legend Shigeru Miyamoto has likened Nintendo's role in the issue of game ownership to that of a "toy company," adding that consumers want to be able to buy games they can "go back to and experience again."

Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer, the Mario creator said that he wants to maintain the idea of games as a product users can keep hold of for many years.

"What's really important is viewing Nintendo almost like a toy company where we're making these things for people to play with," said Miyamoto. "As a consumer you want to be able to keep those things for a long time and have those things from your youth that you can go back to and experience again."

"I really want to retain that product nature of the games that we create so that people can do that and have that experience. To me that's something that's very important about entertainment itself. So from the approach of continuing to create things that are entertaining for people, that's an important direction for me that I want to maintain."

Nintendo also said yesterday that it would release a free-to-play game before the end of its current financial year.