Satoru Iwata Quotes

Whenever I try to do something, I figure out what other people aren't doing or how can I do it different or how can I stand out.

I want to see creativity that breaks boundaries and isn't just about money.

The advantage for Nintendo is that we always try to do things that other companies don't try to do. That is something that the general public appreciates.

Nintendo, as a company, prides itself on doing things differently.

The biggest handicap in research is an ability to think outside the box. The handicap is being encumbered by all the conventional wisdom in a given field.

No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or 'get rich' in business by being a conformist.

What I often do is just think of a completely obtuse thing to do, almost the wrong thing to do. That often works because you start a different approach, something no one has tried.

By definition, startups are not constrained by the limits of established company culture. And so they push boundaries and develop new technologies and ways of doing things.

I always wanted to be really experimental.

Entrepreneurs always pitch their idea as 'the X of Y', so this is going to be 'the Microsoft of food.' And yet disruptive innovations usually don't have that character. Most of the time, if something seems like a good idea, it probably isn't.

An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail

You build your own strategy. You don't define it by what another competitor is doing.

I've done things so unconventionally that I don't think I'd ever be able to lead by someone else's example or the way somebody else has done it. Everybody has their own way of going about things and mine seems to be completely different.

If you do generic things, you know, after a while, brands or designers become stagnated.

The most successful people in the world are the ones who thought of that idea that was 'too crazy to work.'

I always imagine, and try to be on the lookout, for new things, for references that can inspire me creatively so I can showcase things that people haven't done before or that are new.

When trying to innovate, most people stop after 10-15 possibilities, failing to recognize that their first ideas are usually the most obvious ones.

The way creative people live is different from people who don't do anything creative.

I feel that one thing that a businessman can learn is do not follow a path that has already been successful. You will never be a path-breaker then.

Everyone knows we take our time. We're really trying to be responsible with ourselves in trying to discover ideas that haven't been discovered before. It's kind of an alchemy, how we experiment.

My parents always told me never be a follower, always be a leader. It's very difficult to do, to step out and be different and not follow the norm. If you want what's best for your team, you gotta be different.

If you do the same thing as others, it will wear you out. Nintendo is not good at competing so we always have to challenge the status quo by making something new, rather than competing in an existing market.

You have to be doing something very different from what everybody else is doing, hopefully different from what's ever been done before - something that nobody's thought of yet.

Follow a trail of bold mistakes and at the end of them you will find a genius.

Is creativity some obscure, esoteric art form? Not on your life. It's the most practical thing a business-man can employ.