Iwata explains Nintendo's refusal to work on rival platforms

Industry watchers continue to call on Nintendo to extend its hit franchises to new platforms, and Nintendo continues to balk at the idea. Speaking with CVG, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata offered a hypothetical situation in which he would actually consider doing just that.

"If I was to take responsibility for the company for just the next one or two years, and if I was not concerned about the long-term future of Nintendo at all, it might make sense for us to provide our important franchises for other platforms, and then we might be able to gain some short-term profit," Iwata said. "However, I'm really responsible for the long-term future of Nintendo as well, so I would never think about providing our precious resources for other platforms at all."

Iwata went on to stress how Nintendo's ability to create software and hardware that suit one another's needs has been key to the company's success.

"What I believe is that Nintendo is a very unique company, because it does its business by designing and introducing people to hardware and software - by integrating them, we can be unique," Iwata said. "And because we have hardware and software developers in the same building, they stimulate each other. And those kinds of conditions have enabled us to create something that no other companies can create. Those kinds of backgrounds are there behind the fact that such a number of great Nintendo franchises exist, and those great franchises always shine for people around the world."

Nintendo's hardware business has been up-and-down in recent years. The company launched its 3DS to a sluggish start, but the system has recovered and its hardware and software helped drive sales and a return to net profitability in Nintendo's latest quarterly report. However, the Wii U has been the bigger problem of late, with Nintendo selling only 160,000 units worldwide in the last quarter, even as it sells the hardware at a loss.