Iwata Apologizes to Loyal Fans.

[Nitroactive]

Nintendo Chief Executive Officer and President Satoru Iwata is going above and beyond to try and make good with all his loyal fans. You may have read in an earlier article, Iwata is cutting his pay check in half after seeing the results of the 3DS launch and cutting the price of the system roughly by 40%. That alone is more than what most company CEO's would do. Now, Iwata has written an official apology letter aimed at current 3DS owners.

Currently hosted on the Japenese Nintendo website, the letter summarizes why Nintendo did what they did and contains all the details of the 3DS Ambassador Program.

To Those Customers Who Bought A Nintendo 3DS Before The Price Change

Greetings, everyone. This is Satoru Iwata from Nintendo.

Thank you very much for purchasing a Nintendo 3DS.

We have just announced a price drop for the Nintendo 3DS system effective on August 11 [August 12 in North America].

In the past, there have been price drops for video game systems some time after their release in order to broaden the user base further. However, never before has Nintendo chosen to issue such a dramatic price drop less than 6 months after a system release.

We are all too keenly aware that those of you who supported us by purchasing the 3DS in the beginning may feel betrayed and criticize this decision.

This unprecedented timing for a price cut is because the situation has changed greatly since we originally launched the 3DS. We decided it was necessary to take this drastic step in order to ensure that large numbers of users will continue to enjoy the 3DS in the future.

If the software creators and those on the retail side are not confident that the Nintendo 3DS is a worthy successor to the DS and will achieve a similarly broad (user) base, it will be impossible for the 3DS to gain popularity, acquire a wide range of software, and eventually create the product cycle necessary for everyone to be satisfied with the system.

Those customers who purchased the 3DS at the very beginning are extremely important to us. We know that there is nothing we can do to completely make up for the feeling that you are being punished for buying the system early. Still, we would like to offer the following as a sign of our appreciation to you.

[3DS Ambassador program details]

We feel a strong responsibility to develop the 3DS as a platform -- to ensure that, in the end, everyone is satisfied; we will make every effort to do so.

Additionally, we know everyone is waiting for Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7. They are scheduled for release in November and December, respectively, so we ask for your patience until then.

Thank you again, and we look forward to your continued support.

To visit the Japanese site with the original letter, click here. The letter can be translated using Google Translate.

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[BakuInferno]

1st Comment

I think that this was necsesary cause it cost more than my wii. At least with this more people might be able to enjoy the 3ds.

and we forgive you Iwata.

[Ankoku Hikaru]

I think I like Nintendo more than before, if that's possible. Go Nintendo! ^^

[Ninitos]

They could have theoretically gotten away with giving out nothing at all or having no apology. Respect.

[Shaymins]

I really never would have expected the 3DS to have low sales. :(

[InspectorFish]

They know that their biggest fans are the ones who bought it first, so they're doing everything they can to not lose them.
It's working. I was pissed at first, but I'm impressed by how they've handled this.

[Gray6]

Nintendo oftens shows that it cares more about its customers than the average corporation. Nintendo hurt our trust in them, and now they're sincerely trying to make it up to us. Sony and Microsoft can learn a thing or two about values from Nintendo.

[ThunderGuy]

I think the "loyal fans" got it better, with exclusive free eshop games,
I encourage all who are thinking of buying the system to buy it now,
I know I did :D

[atomicboo]

nintendo you rule

[Shenanigan]

Nintendo Cares
Xbox and PlayStation would've never done anything like what Nintendo is doing now, let alone the President writing an apology to it's fans.

Iwata<3