Miiverse Will Be Huge on Nintendo 3DS, Says Iwata

Satoru Iwata, the president and the chief executive officer of Nintendo, believes that the Miiverse service should not be seen as a challenger for current social networks, but that it will become more important when it is launched on the 3DS handheld.

During an interview, translated by Siliconera, the executive says, “Once the Miiverse hits the 3DS, it will be huge. Just imagine the possibilities of playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf while sharing your experiences on the Miiverse. Now that’s something.”

Iwata shared anecdotic evidence that gamers now talk about Nintendo less via Twitter because the video games that the company releases all have a presence on the Miiverse and players can chat about them using the new service in a more focused way.

It seems that one of the main advantages of the Nintendo social space is that it allows players to talk directly about games, without having to worry about the superficialities of daily life.

The CEO adds, “The primary use of Twitter and Facebook is not gaming, but a means of communication. Although I don’t use either of them, if I did, I imagine I’d use it to talk about my outings and vacations to people who aren’t exactly video game enthusiasts.”

Iwata described the Miiverse as an experience-sharing network and says that both himself and Shigeru Miyamoto, the main game creator at Nintendo, wanted to make it easy to use for all those who bought a Wii U or a 3DS.

Once it is launched on the handheld, there are also plans to deliver Miiverse on mobile devices and on the PC, which shows that Nintendo has big long-term plans for it.

Nintendo signaled more openness towards interaction after it launched the Wii U and the company wants to give players more options to communicate and play together with their friends.