Nintendo Rules Out Same-Sex Marriage in Tomodachi Life and Explains Position

As you may be aware, upcoming 3DS title Tomodachi Life has drawn some criticism due to the absence of same-sex marriages in the Mii-sim, with only male and female characters having the relevant relationship options. The topic was first raised in 2013 with the Japanese release, with some confusion over whether a bug allowing same-sex marriages was being patched out by Nintendo. The company recently provided an explanation regarding that original issue, correcting some mis-understandings over the technicalities behind those events.

Nevertheless, as this is a Mii-sim that allows relationships to be formed, a social media campaign called Miiquality, and a number of gamers, have been raising awareness of the issue and requesting that same-sex marriages be supported in the Western release of the title. In a statement issued to Associated Press, Nintendo of America has addressed the topic directly in terms of the moral debate, as opposed to explaining the complications and technical matters that brought the issue to light in the original Japanese release. Below is that statement.

Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of 'Tomodachi Life'. 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 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.

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. We have been looking to broaden our approach to development whenever possible as we put all our energy into continuing to develop fun games that will surprise and delight players.

This would appear to be the final word on the matter from Nintendo, as it's maintaining the code from the Japanese release rather than making any adjustments following equality campaigns and consumer-led requests.

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