Vic Mignogna
$2 million
Shigeru Miyamoto has an estimated net worth of $50 million. The Japanese video game designer and Nintendo Creative Fellow is the creator of some of the best-selling video game franchises in history, including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong. Since joining Nintendo in 1977, Miyamoto has directly shaped a company that has sold over one billion video game units worldwide and generated tens of billions of dollars in franchise revenue.
Updated March 2026: According to Nintendo’s annual compensation disclosures as reported by Nintendo Life, Miyamoto’s total annual compensation from Nintendo has historically been approximately $2 million per year, a figure considered modest for the scope of his creative output. Industry estimates place his overall net worth at approximately $50 million, reflecting cumulative salary, bonuses, and any equity-linked compensation over nearly five decades at the company.
Shigeru Miyamoto (宮本 茂) was born on November 16, 1952, in Sonobe, a small town in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. His father was an English teacher, and the family lived modestly. As a child, Miyamoto spent considerable time exploring the hills, forests, and caves of the Sonobe countryside — experiences he has directly credited as inspiration for the open-world design philosophy of The Legend of Zelda. He was an avid manga reader and aspired to become a manga artist before discovering the commercial possibilities of video games.
Miyamoto studied industrial design at the Kanazawa Municipal College of Industrial Arts, graduating around 1977. His degree was not in computer science or engineering, and he entered Nintendo as one of its first artists — a background that fundamentally shaped his design philosophy, which has always prioritized player experience and intuitive interaction over technical complexity.
Miyamoto joined Nintendo in 1977 under company president Hiroshi Yamauchi, initially working on the design of arcade cabinet exteriors. His breakthrough came in 1981 when he created Donkey Kong, Nintendo’s first major arcade hit in the United States, which introduced the character who would become Mario. In 1985, he served as director and designer on Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System — a game that is widely credited with reviving the North American video game industry following the market crash of 1983.
The Legend of Zelda followed in 1986, establishing an entirely new genre of action-adventure gameplay. Miyamoto then produced the original Pokémon games in 1996, adding another of Nintendo’s signature franchises to his portfolio. Across the following two decades he served as executive producer on dozens of major Nintendo releases including Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Super Mario Galaxy, and multiple entries in the Pikmin series, which he created in 2001.
In 2015, Miyamoto served briefly as Nintendo’s acting president. He currently holds the title of Creative Fellow and Representative Director — a senior advisory and creative oversight role that places him at the intersection of Nintendo’s game development, theme park, and film divisions. As of late 2025, he has confirmed to publications including IGN that he is stepping back from direct Mario game development, choosing instead to focus on Nintendo’s expanding film and entertainment ventures, including serving as producer on the forthcoming Super Mario Galaxy animated film.
Miyamoto’s wealth is striking for its relative modesty given the scale of the intellectual property he created. Unlike many Western technology executives or entertainment figures, his compensation has been primarily salary-based with limited publicly reported equity ownership. Key income sources include:
Miyamoto is married to Yasuko Miyamoto, though he has kept significant details of his family life private. The couple have a son born around 1985 and a daughter born around 1987; their names have not been publicly confirmed. Miyamoto is notably protective of his children’s privacy and has stated in interviews that he deliberately limited their video game time when they were young — a fact that generated considerable public amusement given his profession.
He is ambidextrous but prefers his left hand, plays guitar, mandolin, and banjo, and has a particular affinity for American bluegrass music. He is an avid gardener. One of his more widely reported personal habits is measuring the dimensions of objects he encounters in daily life out of curiosity — a behavior consistent with his lifelong design instincts. His Shetland Sheepdog, named Pikku, directly inspired the creation of the Nintendogs franchise. Miyamoto has expressed a desire to remain active in the industry until at least Mario’s 50th anniversary in 2035.
Shigeru Miyamoto’s net worth is estimated at approximately $50 million based on industry estimates. Despite creating some of the most commercially successful video game franchises in history, his wealth is relatively modest because his compensation from Nintendo has been structured as a director’s salary — approximately $2 million per year in recent years — rather than through royalties or large equity grants.
Miyamoto is the creator or co-creator of Donkey Kong (1981), Mario (1981), The Legend of Zelda (1986), Star Fox (1993), and Pikmin (2001). He also served as producer on the original Pokémon games (1996). The combined lifetime revenue of franchises he originated is estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars when including merchandise, licensing, and theme park revenues.
Yes. As of March 2026, Miyamoto holds the title of Creative Fellow and Representative Director at Nintendo. He confirmed in late 2025 interviews that he has stepped back from direct day-to-day Mario game development, but he remains active in an oversight role and is serving as a producer on Nintendo’s upcoming Super Mario Galaxy animated film project.