Yeah, yeah, Nintendo's president told investors the Wii Vitality Sensor has been canned. But he says that every year, just about. What fascinated me about his Q&A with shareholders was the fact Nintendo employees think the chow at the company's cafeteria is pretty bad.


From the transcript:

"I heard that the quality of the company cafeteria is not so good from one of my acquaintances who works for Nintendo. I think you should ensure that everybody is able to enjoy eating at the cafeteria as a part of the employee welfare program and improve internal communication among employees."


To that, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata replied.

"We regularly hear the same opinion when we gather feedback from employees. However, opinions vary considerably by individual and not all the employees agree with this. Still I examine such an opinion as an issue of the company because we receive such feedback constantly. Thank you."

While Iwata didn't say the cafeteria didn't suck, notice there's not a denial that it does: "We regularly hear the same opinion," and "we receive such feedback constantly," sound to me like a guy who knows the grub ain't so hot. Hell, at least they have a cafeteria.

The Q&A at an annual shareholders' meeting can be kind of a free-for-all. Many folks have their own specific, sometimes petty issues of concern and are delighted to get the top honcho to respond to them.


A year ago someone complained to Iwata about getting lost in the subway trying to get to Nintendo's Kyoto headquarters. And earlier in this Q&A someone asked for Virtual Boy games on the 3DS. (Take that, Reggie!) Iwata's reply to that was no more commital than his response on the cafeteria: "I believe your comment is that we should take advantage of our software assets from Virtual Boy and I would like to take note of that advice for the future."


The 73rd Annual General Meeting of Shareholders: Q&A [Nintendo]