An odd exchange between Iwata and an investor
The conversation below is indeed real! It’s somewhat unexpected and quite different from what we generally see at these shareholders meetings. Yeah, it’s strange. Without further ado…
Investor: “I’m concerned about the falling stock price. I own stock, but I don’t own a single Nintendo product. I believe games are a waste of time. By the way, the reason I own Nintendo stock is because the name is nice, it’s in Kyoto and it was listed in the year of my birth.”
Iwata: “There are people in this world who don’t feel that games are a waste of time, so Nintendo continues to exist. We’d like to eliminate the thinking that playing games by yourself is negative, or when there’s a crime you immediately tie it into games. We’d like to raise the social importance of games. We’re working to expand the gaming population, yourself included.”
Investor: “During the Tohoku earthquake disaster, I believe people in the evacuation centers were lacking in exercise. Why didn’t you bring Wii Fit to them? Why didn’t you show off to the media that you’re doing more for the victims?”
Responding to the question above, Iwata explained that some users might be able to use Wii Fit to recover from a lack of exercise, but others simply would want to spend time quietly after having lost loved ones. Nintendo therefore decided against sending out product indiscriminately.
Iwata added that Nintendo were involved with governing bodies of affected areas and send items that were needed by those who had been involved with the disaster. But be aware that Nintendo did not want any media attention, and won’t even be including the conversation above in their shareholders meeting summary.
