News that WarioWare series director Goro Abe was leaving Nintendo dropped yesterday, 9th March, and now the veteran developer has explained that doesn’t mean he’s leaving game-making behind.
Via VGC, we’ve learned about his latest comments, which he shared via his personal X/Twitter account on 10th March, shortly after news of his departure took off online:
As pointed out by VGC, Abe “will be joining the Osaka Electro-Communication University” as a professor working at the Department of Digital Games, and now the creative has confirmed he’ll be looking into “industry-academia” collaborations while he continues to work on smaller games that could potentially be even weirder (complimentary) than the WarioWare titles.
Another post also suggests his departure was on good terms and simply marked the next chapter in his professional life. His long run at Nintendo started with 2001’s Wario Land 4; back then, he served as a programmer. The last game he directed was 2023’s WarioWare: Move It! Could his future games follow the same style? It’s possible, since Abe has a very distinct vision that permeates all the works he’s directed, but at the same time, stepping out of Nintendo’s shadow should be the perfect opportunity to try all-new things. Either way, I’m excited to see what he’s up to next on the game dev front.
His passing comment on the potential future of the WarioWare series could also suggest a new entry is in development. This could’ve started anytime between the release of Move It! and now, but I’m just theorizing here. Regardless of what ends up happening with Abe’s off-beat minigame-oriented series without him, it’s hard to imagine Wario being out of the picture for too long (besides cameo appearances).
