Wired.com: Why did you stop making videogames after that?
Iwatani: After that, I became a producer. Namco was a small company, and because the organization expanded, I was promoted to section chief. Someone had to coordinate the younger developers that we’d hired.
Maybe this has to do with Japanese business culture too? If your supervisor asks you to do something (like, become one of the managers) it would be rude to not comply. "No thanks boss, I'd rather stay coding games" as an answer would be acceptable in western cultures, but maybe a bit problematic in Asia.
Probably he also got a salary raise and higher social standing as a manager; from how he talks about it I get the sense that he wasn't opposed to that.
Iwatani: After that, I became a producer. Namco was a small company, and because the organization expanded, I was promoted to section chief. Someone had to coordinate the younger developers that we’d hired.
Maybe this has to do with Japanese business culture too? If your supervisor asks you to do something (like, become one of the managers) it would be rude to not comply. "No thanks boss, I'd rather stay coding games" as an answer would be acceptable in western cultures, but maybe a bit problematic in Asia.
Probably he also got a salary raise and higher social standing as a manager; from how he talks about it I get the sense that he wasn't opposed to that.