The developer hasn't ruled out Nintendo's move to VR, but doesn't believe Mario will make the transition.
Before any Nintendo fans start to worry that the recently announced Super Mario Run is somehow an indication that Nintendo is preparing to use Mario as their vessel for all manners fo trendy technology, Shigeru Miyamoto has come forward to state that he doesn't believe Mario would translate into a virtual reality experience.
In an interview with USA Today, the legendary game creator stated "I would agree that adapting Mario to new platforms is a key to keeping him relevant, but we want families to play together, and virtual reality (which requires players to be closed off from the real world) doesn't really fit well there. We also like people playing for a long time, and it's hard to do that in VR."
This statement seems to gel with Miyamoto's previous thoughts on the world of virtual reality as he has indicated he is vaguely interested in VR as a concept but isn't outright sold on the technology as it currently exists. It is believed that Nintendo is testing out some internal virtual reality concepts, however, so it is possible that they might still be interested in releasing some kind of VR game down the line, even if their main mascot isn't involved.
As far as Mario's move to smartphones goes, Miyamoto expressed why he feels Mario is the right candidate to help ease Nintendo into that market in an interview with IGN.
“A big point with this game is, ‘How can we make this a game that people who aren’t good at games can play the game and enjoy it?’” said Miyamoto. “But also at the same time, we’ve been making Mario games for a long time, and we know how to make them challenging. So if you’re a Mario fan, I don’t think you have to worry about that part of it.”
Given how many genre transitions Mario has survived, it's not too difficult to imagine him staring in a great VR game, although, as in all matters related to the character, we differ to the judgment of Miyamoto on this one.
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