GLAAD: Nintendo is sending a ‘hurtful message’ by refusing to allow gay relationships in video game
GLAAD has attacked Nintendo’s decision to ban same-sex relationships in video game Tomodachi Life, branding it “hurtful”.
Nintendo confirmed yesterday that the upcoming release of Tomodachi Life for 3DS will only allow the player to enter straight relationships, and will not permit same-sex relationships.
According to GamesBeat, GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz said: “In purposefully limiting players’ relationship options, Nintendo is not only sending a hurtful message to many of its fans and consumers by excluding them, but also setting itself way behind the times
“It’s been over a decade since The Sims — the original ‘whimsical and quirky’ life simulator — allowed its users to marry any character they wanted, and many other mainstream and massively popular video games have followed their lead since.
“Nintendo should do the same.”
The game’s Japanese release last year arose controversy after the company removed a glitch allowing male characters to enter same-sex relationships, claiming it was an ‘unintentional, game-breaking bug’.
Defending the decision not to include gay relationships in the upcoming English release yesterday, Nintendo said: “Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of ‘Tomodachi Life’.
“The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation. We hope that all of our fans will see that ‘Tomodachi Life’ was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary.”
Tomodachi Life will be released on June 6.
