Former WarioWare director Goro Abe says that after leaving Nintendo, he no longer has to shape his creative work around profitability, large sales or specialized hardware in the same way. He is now teaching and researching new kinds of game experiences at Osaka Electro-Communication University, while still considering future creative projects.
What Abe said changed after leaving Nintendo
In an interview published October 1, 2026, by VGC, Abe described a change in the commercial considerations attached to his work. “I no longer need to think about profitability, making sure you can sell a lot, or making sure you understand the dedicated controllers or specialized devices,” he said.
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He was careful not to describe those considerations as inherently harmful. “Not that those constraints are necessarily bad: I actually enjoyed thinking creatively within them when I was working in the industry, and I think they are a natural part of commercial game development.” His point is that his current work can start from different priorities—not that Nintendo prevented experimentation or that his earlier games were worse because they were commercial products.
Why he left and what he is doing now
Abe joined Nintendo in 1999, worked on games including Wario Land 4, and became director of the WarioWare series. VGC identifies 2023’s WarioWare: Move It! as his most recent game in that role. He left Nintendo earlier in 2026 after more than 25 years and began teaching at Osaka Electro-Communication University.
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Abe told VGC that approaching his 50th birthday prompted him to think about how many more games he might make. He wanted to challenge himself with unfamiliar work and found the prospect of teaching interesting. At the university, he teaches game design and how it can address social issues, and researches new game experiences through its Experimental Game Design Laboratory.
What kinds of games and experiences he wants to explore
Abe said he wants to make work further outside the box and “simply move people through the experience,” whether it takes the form of a game or another kind of entertainment. His research includes making games he has not made before and exploring how a controller might serve as a basic input for something new.
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He is also interested in reaching people who do not usually play games. “My approach is really about trying not necessarily to make games for gamers, but games for other people who don’t necessarily play games,” he told VGC. That could include gamification or using games’ effects to create different kinds of places, including work that may help companies outside the games industry.
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- Take on over 200 quick and quirky microgames – lightning-fast minigames filled with frantic fun – solo or with a friend! When his latest harebrained business scheme goes awry, Wario must use his signature style (and smell) to fix it. How By playing a twisted collection of microgames of course! From assembling a robot to pulling out a statue’s armpit hair, WarioWare: Get It Together! is a comedic, cooperative microgame mashup.
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Will Goro Abe keep making games?
Yes, in the sense that Abe says he is still thinking about creative work. In a public statement quoted by VGC in March 2026, he wrote: “Becoming a professor doesn’t mean retiring from game creation.” That report said he planned to continue through research, including small experimental games with unconventional mechanics and gamified social services developed through industry-academia collaboration.
In the October interview, Abe added that he is thinking about creating new things with industry colleagues, but that his university work leaves him little time to develop games. He has not announced a new game or said when one might arrive. His current direction is best understood as teaching and experimentation alongside an ongoing interest in making things, rather than a confirmed return to commercial game development.
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How this differs from commercial game development
Abe’s contrast is between the aims he describes for his work now and the practical demands of commercial game production. A commercial release typically has to consider whether it can sell at scale and whether it can be built around particular devices; the experimental or academic work he wants to try can begin with other creative or social aims. This is a change in the questions he says he needs to ask, not a measured comparison of quality or success between the two kinds of work.
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His own account keeps both sides of that distinction in view: commercial constraints were a natural part of the industry, and he enjoyed finding creative solutions within them. Leaving Nintendo has given him room to pursue different questions, not a reason to dismiss the work he did there.
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Sources
- Andy Robinson, VGC, “WarioWare director reveals what changed after he left Nintendo,” October 1, 2026: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/warioware-director-reveals-what-changed-after-he-left-nintendo/
- Chris Scullion, VGC, “Departing WarioWare director says he’ll keep making smaller, ‘unconventional’ games after leaving Nintendo,” March 10, 2026: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/departing-warioware-director-says-hell-keep-making-smaller-unconventional-games-after-leaving-nintendo/
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