Nintendo, more than any other publisher on Earth, goes after pirates with its teeth out and its guns blazing. So it's funny to hear company president Satoru Iwata say it's not an excuse for poor game sales.
"I do not think we should attribute bad software sales solely to piracy", he said during a Q&A session held last week following the reveal of the 3DS' pricing and release in Japan.
"It is true there is always the influence of piracy, but it is important for us to increase the number of our consumers who are willing to shell out their money to purchase our products. So, we do not intend to think that slower sales are solely due to piracy."
If that's the case, and Nintendo is so lawsuit-happy across all major gaming markets as it is, we'd hate to see what would happen if they did think slower game sales were solely due to piracy. It'd be like the old Wii launch commercials, only instead of "liking to play", there'd be Japanese men knocking on doors the word over "breaking legs".