Reggie on fan pressure: 100,000 signatures doesn’t mean 100,000 sales

Nintendo has said that online petitions and fan outcries don’t play a part in shaping its overall strategy.

When asked about the likes of Operation Rainfall – a pressure group that is trying to get Nintendo to localise a handful of Japanese-only Wii games – Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told Siliconera said that the noise doesn’t always to sound business.

It doesn’t affect what we do,” he admitted. We certainly look at it, and we’re certainly aware of it, but it doesn’t necessarily affect what we do.

I wanted to bring Xenoblade here. The deal was, how much of a localization effort is it? How many units are we going to sell, are we going to make money? We were literally having this debate while Operation Rainfall was happening, and we were aware that there was interest for the game, but we had to make sure that it was a strong financial proposition.

I’m paid to make sure that we’re driving the business forward – so we’re aware of what’s happening, but in the end we’ve got to do what’s best for the company. The thing we know [about petitions] is that 100,000 signatures doesn’t mean 100,000 sales.”