Sorry, but you are acting as if Aounuma is not playing any games, when in fact he's stating something completely different: "As a producer, whenever I can find more time to play games, I'm taking that free time to go out and play other games just to play them and see what's out there." That he can't play every game is obvious and which games have priority for him is something out of our realm of knowledge. Stating that he's ignorant to the current trends of the industry, because he's not of the opinion that Skyrim is an important inspiration for the Zelda franchise is beyond silly.
Also, he's the producer, not the director or a designer. His role is primarily to manage a project and to make it work. He's not (primarily at least) the person who comes up with the ideas for the games.