Speaking at B Dash Camp Osaka 2013, a conference for start-up companies in Japan, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said that Nintendo is not a good competitor, but that that drives the company to disrupt the video game market with new and different technologies.
Iwata first related to the conference crowd that former president and recently passed Hiroshi Yamauchi said that "if you have failure, you don't need to be too concerned. You always have good things and bad, and this reflects the history of Nintendo." It seems like Iwata has already displayed a thorough understanding of this concept, refusing to fire employees despite less than stellar Wii U reception in the market.
Continuing, Iwata said that competition is not exactly Nintendo's primary goal. "If you do the same thing as others, it will wear you out," Iwata told conference goers. "Nintendo is not good at competing so we always have to challenge [the status quo] by making something new, rather than competing in an existing market."
Iwata also responded to critics who argue that Nintendo should become a software-only company by saying "no one knows the future, but I don't think that's going to happen with Nintendo."
B Dash Camp attendees got to hear more from Iwata on all things Nintendo, including details about Pokémon and Brain Age. You can find a full report on Iwata's talk at the link below.