Nintendo has apologized for excluding same-sex relationships in the English version of its popular Tomodachi Life game, but said it's too late to fix it now.
The company faced a firestorm of criticism for not allowing Tomodachi Life players to choose same-sex relationships. The characters in this game are modelled after real people and those real people want equality, but Nintendo is apparently unable to provide it at this point.
"We apologize for disappointing many people by failing to include same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life," the company said in its latest statement. "Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to change this game's design, and such a significant development change can't be accomplished with a post-ship patch."
In other words, it's too late for Nintendo to change the current game to include same-sex relationships, but the company did pledge to take virtual equality more seriously in the future if it produces more versions of its life-simulator game.
"We pledge that if we create a next installment in the Tomodachi series, we will strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players," added the company.
Tomodachi Life originally made its debut last year in Japan featuring a cast of Mii characters, i.e. personalized avatars of real-life players. The characters live on a virtual island and can do various things such as play games, shop, go on dates, get married, or even meet celebrities. The game is already enjoying great success in Japan and is set to launch in North America and Europe on June 6, but this exclusion of same-sex relationships may damage its success.
Last month, 23-year-old Nintendo fan Tye Marini from Mesa, Arizona, launched a social media campaign militating for the inclusion of same-sex relationships into the English versions of the game, but with no success. The campaign raised awareness and prompted Nintendo to issue this apology, but nothing will change for now.
"Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of Tomodachi Life," the company said in an earlier statement, in response to Marini's campaign. "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."
While Tomodachi Life was a big hit in Japan, it remains to be seen whether it will enjoy similar success with its English version after this mishap.
