If you’re like us, chances are you already have a pretty good idea of what different game development roles entail. However, sometimes it can be good to refresh your mind a little.
Take director and producer as an example. It is not uncommon for these two roles to sometimes be confused, especially when individuals like Eiji Aonuma and Yoshio Sakamoto are often considered the ‘face’ of a film. Zelda And Metroidcorresponding.
However, as Sakurai explains, a director is responsible for each project and has final say on almost every major aspect of the development process. Meanwhile, a producer can oversee multiple projects at once and will be responsible for finance, management, human resources, and marketing.
With this in mind, you can understand why Eiji Aonuma is often the head of gameplay presentations for titles like Zelda: Breath of the Wild And Tears of the Kingdomand not the game director, Hidemaro Fujibayashi.
However, as Sakurai explains, these two roles can often intersect: some producers may want to be involved in the creative side, while directors (including Sakurai) prefer to be involved in the marketing side.
He also said that because the producer acts on behalf of a larger company, it can sometimes lead to some “conflicts”. However, Sakurai spoke fondly of his own relationship with Nintendo, saying “I don’t think we have any problems getting along. They put a lot of trust in me, so there’s almost never any tension over differences of opinion”.
