Business 2.0 Says Miyamoto Matters

Business 2.0 magazine honors Miyamoto on its list of important people.

The new fad among business publications seems to be producing lists of important people, from executives to visionaries. Nintendo Chief Executive Officer Satoru Iwata recently ranked on Barron's "Top 30 Most Respected CEOs" list. Now the pendulum has swung to Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, who placed 20th on Business 2.0's "The 50 Who Matter Now" chart.

Miyamoto's biography from the article reads: "If you recognize the name Donkey Kong, Mario, or Zelda, you're familiar with Miyamoto's work -- and if you've come within shouting distance of a 14-year-old lately, you've probably heard about his latest creation: the Nintendo Wii.

"The Wii's motion-sensitive controller has injected a physical dimension into the videogame business, but the real genius of the Wii may be that it appeals to people outside Nintendo's traditional middle-school demographic. By marketing the Wii aggressively to 25-to 49-year-olds, Miyamoto is breathing new life into a $30 billion industry that was starting to stagnate."