Former Nintendo executive Dan Adelman says Nintendo's current management team "do not understand modern gaming".

Adelman, a developer liaison who left Nintendo in August 2014, has been outspoken about the company since his departure. He claimed to have been issued a social media gag order after he described the "Wii U" name as "abysmal".

In a new interview with Dromble, Adelman gave his view on why Nintendo is so slow to adopt new trends in gaming.

“They’re very traditional, and very focused on hierarchy and group decision making,” said Adelman.

“Unfortunately, that creates a culture where everyone is an advisor and no one is a decision maker – but almost everyone has veto power. Even Mr. Iwata is often loathe to make a decision that will alienate one of the executives in Japan.”

Adelman describes vast layers of bureaucracy that had to be negotiated before any decision was made.

“All of this is not necessarily a bad thing, though it can be very inefficient and time consuming,” he said.

“The biggest risk is that at any step in that process, if someone flat out says no, the proposal is as good as dead. So in general, bolder ideas don’t get through the process unless they originate at the top.”

Adelman also said there was a lack of fresh blood and modern thinking at the top.

“The most senior executives at the company cut their teeth during NES and Super NES days and do not really understand modern gaming, so adopting things like online gaming, account systems, friends lists, as well as understanding the rise of PC gaming has been very slow,” he said.

“Ideas often get shut down prematurely just because some people with the power to veto an idea simply don’t understand it.

“There is very little reason to try and push these ideas. Risk taking is generally not really rewarded. Long-term loyalty is ultimately what gets rewarded, so the easiest path is simply to stay the course.”

Nintendo's Wii U console has struggled to find traction since it launched in November 2012.

In May 2014, Nintendo posted a third consecutive annual loss following a year of poor Wii U sales.

Nintendo's net loss was 23.2 billion yen (NZ$263m), with net sales down 10 percent on 2013.

Nintendo expects to sell 3.6m Wii U consoles in the next year bringing the console’s total to just below 10m by April this year.