During a recent interview, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was asked whether he felt that Nintendo is lagging behind rivals when it comes to online multiplayer. Iwata claims that local cooperative play is Nintendo’s strength. Through local multiplayer, Iwata says, people can play and enjoy games together in the same room. Iwata believes that Nintendo shouldn’t try to compete with developers who make “Call of Duty-like games,” but instead invite them to develop their games, that are heavily reliant on online, for Nintendo platforms.

“The strength of Nintendo is definitely creating game experiences for people who can play in the same room together and enjoy them together. I think this is the strength we are coming from and if you look at our games and how they’re structured; this is the starting point (for our games). ”

“But we also have titles like Mario Kart that are heavily reliant on online and support online multiplayer. But you shouldn’t be expecting Call of Duty-like games to be offered from Nintendo. For that type of game my belief is that, if there are companies out there who can do this very well, then instead of us try to do it this, or to compete with them, it would be better to have them do it on our platforms, so to invite them and to support them to offer this kind of entertainment on our platform. ”