In an interview with Diamond.jp, Iwata was asked to comment further on his statements in January that Nintendo would "expand into a new business area" and "extend the definition of entertainment" with its 10-year 'Quality of Life' platform.

"A lot of people around the world think Nintendo is solely a company that makes video games," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said. However, that shouldn't be the case, he emphasized. "[Former Nintendo president Hiroshi] Yamauchi always said 'Nintendo is an entertainment company and should never be anything else', but he didn't necessarily think 'entertainment equals video games.'"

The remarks come as Iwata explains the company's new "quality of life" initiative, one that will expand Nintendo's focus beyond traditional gaming into learning and lifestyle. "Entertainment is there to improve people's quality of life. After your basic needs, there's entertainment. However, when it came to improving people's quality of life, I didn't know the difference between us and household appliance makers," he told Diamond (translated by CVG).

With Nintendo's financials lagging ever since the Wii boom died down, the company has been struggling to reach profitability and keep investors happy. Clearly, this is a company open to experimentation. "Even though we won't change the fact that our focus is on video games, I felt the need to take that occasion to state that Nintendo is a company that can do whatever it wants," Iwata added.