As reported by ABC News , Nintendo announced on Tuesday, May 6, that it would not include the option to engage in same-sex relationships in the English version of the company’s upcoming 3DS life simulator Tomodachi Life .
Nintendo’s response to last month’s Twitter campaign–under that hashtag #Miiquality–that wanted to promote virtual equality in the game was that the company doesn’t want to to make any sort social commentary with its title, and that the game itself is just meant to be a “ playful alternative world ” rather than a simulation of the real one.
” Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of Tomodachi Life,” Nintendo of America explained in a statement. ” The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation. We hope that all of our fans will see that ‘Tomodachi Life’ was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary. ”
The campaign cropped up when Nintendo fan Tye Marini from Arizona, USA wanted to urge Nintendo and its subsidiaries to include same-sex relationships in the English versions of the game so he could be able to marry his fiancé’s Mii.
” I want to be able to marry my real-life fiancé’s Mii, but I can’t do that, ” Marini expressed in a video he published online. ” My only options are to marry some female Mii, to change the gender of either my Mii or my fiancé’s Mii or to completely avoid marriage altogether and miss out on the exclusive content that comes with it. ”
” It’s more of an issue for this game because the characters are supposed to be a representation of your real life, ” Marini added during a telephone interview. ” You import your personalized characters into the game. You name them. You give them a personality. You give them a voice. They just can’t fall in love if they’re gay. ”
Marini also noted later in response to Nintendo that excluding same-sex relationships in videogames is a form of “social commentary”.
” I would hope that they recognize the issue with the exclusion of same-sex relationships in the game and make an effort to resolve it, ” he said. ” Until then, Miiquality will continue to raise awareness of the issue. ”
While same-sex relationships won’t be available in English versions of Tomodachi Life right now, Nintendo has explained its side of the coin, and it has taken on board the feedback the campaign has brought to it. It’ll be using this opportunity to better understand what is expected of the company, which could leave an optimistic window that such an option may be implemented in Tomodachi Life or future Nintendo titles later down the line.
” The ability for same-sex relationships to occur in the game was not part of the original game that launched in Japan, and that game is made up of the same code that was used to localize it for other regions outside of Japan, ” Nintendo told ABC News in an emailed statement. ” We have heard and thoughtfully considered all the responses. We will continue to listen and think about the feedback. We’re using this as an opportunity to better understand our consumers and their expectations of us at all levels of the organization .”
As well as writing emails to Nintendo, Marini has encouraged supporters to post on both Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #Miiquality to request that the company include same-sex relationships in an update to Tomodachi Life or in a future installment. Tomodachi Life is slated to launch in both North America and Europe on Tuesday, June 6 on 3DS–and presumably 2DS, too.
[ ABC News ]