"We Absolutely Apologize" For Pokémon Performance Problems, Says Nintendo Of Canada Manager 1
Image: Nintendo Life

Business interviews are often pretty dry, and a recent chat between Post Arcade — the Financial Post's gaming section — and Nintendo of Canada General Manager Susan Pennefather was no different. But there were some interesting gems hidden in all the biz-speak, so let's take a look!

Pennefather says that 2022 was a "blockbuster year" for Nintendo, which is no surprise given the launch of games like Splatoon 3, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and not one, but two Pokémon games. In Canada, that translated to the Nintendo Switch being "the number one selling system in Canada for the fifth consecutive year," Pennefather states, citing that a large part of that is the appeal to a "broad and massive audience", comprising around 53% of Canadians, roughly half of which are female.

Luckily, it's not all softball questions in this interview, as Post Arcade tackled the subject of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet and Pokémon Legends: Arceus' graphical and performance issues on launch.

"The latest Pokemon games proved wildly successful," Post Arcade begins, "but they also suffered plenty of performance problems and glitches — a problem not common in Nintendo exclusives. What did you learn from that software launch?"

Pennefather does not avoid the question, beginning with "You know, we absolutely apologize" — a stance that has sort of been taken by Nintendo of America, too, who said "we apologize for the inconvenience" as part of their patch notes. Pennefather echoes a similar sentiment to Nintendo of America's promise to do better — almost word for word, in fact:

"It is so important to give players a positive experience with our games, and when this doesn’t happen we do take it very much to heart. What I can say is the feedback from players has absolutely been taken very seriously. And we are working on improvements to these games."

Pennefather also addresses the gap in Nintendo's mobile game launches, but not really:

"In terms of future opportunities, I can tell you that we will announce the distribution of any future titles once more details are determined."

All in all, not a hugely enlightening interview, but it's nice to get a solid apology for the Pokémon issues, no?

[source financialpost.com]