Iwata: Nintendo has always been "social"

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata doesn't believe the firm is lacking in its support of social gaming, because the firm has always put a "high value to human relationships for a long time."

Speaking during a Q&A session with investors, Iwata said Nintendo doesn't see social implementation the same way other firms might, but that going all the way back to its playing card heyday, the firm has always been about creating " human connections" with its products.

"The keyword 'social' has rapidly become very popular in these last two years and some say that Nintendo may be behind the social age," he said. "They might mean that Nintendo, uninterested in so-called social games from a business standpoint, fails to ride on the boom of social games. However, I have a totally opposite view - Nintendo has been a company attaching a high value to human relationships for a long time.

"We have our roots in the playthings connecting people, as the company’s original business was playing cards. Therefore, we have always been aware of the human connections created by each of our products.

"It is true that on social networking services through the internet you can make a relationship with those to which you could not connect with before. On the other hand, I think that there has been no best answer yet to the relationship between a real network and a virtual network.

"The big theme for us is to provide new and fascinating human relationships composed of various networks, a real network with those close to you, a virtual network with those distant from you, and networks beyond description created by your experiences of sharing the same place with someone or of visiting certain places and specifically provided by SpotPass and StreetPass.

"My outlook on video games is a future where more people are connected in a good sense by videogames and give positive feedback to one another, and when something very exciting emerges, the content which appeals to one consumer can actually be offered to that consumer in a more efficient and speedy manner.

"We would like to spread the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U, and to spend a substantial amount of money on sales promotion to make such a future a reality."