Iwata: Wii was never meant to be casual

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata worked to clear up a misunderstanding in a Q&A session with investors following the company’s most recent financial briefing. He says the Wii was never intended to be a casual console. 

“There was a misunderstanding that Nintendo was dedicated to such games at some stage of the lifespans of the Wii and the Nintendo DS,” he said. “We have made efforts to develop video games that are in tune with various consumer tastes; however, we have not been able to gain adequate consumer understanding regarding our intentions, while in the common perception there are no or few core users playing Nintendo platforms, which is not the case.” 

Iwata goes on to say unless the industry works to create a flow that takes gamers from beginners to advanced gamers, the player base will shrink. Is that what they’re hung up on?

I’m sure that if it were up to Nintendo, they would have all the core gamer support that the PS3 and Xbox 360 does now. While Nintendo does release first-party titles that would definitely fall under the core game umbrella, it’s likely the limited third-party support for the system that makes the Wii look like a mostly casual system. While many core gamers own a Wii, they’re not playing any of the hot third-party franchise games on it.

Iwata on Wii Misperceptions [IGN]