Nintendo released a public apology on Friday for excluding a same-sex relationship in its game Tomodachi Life.
But the game maker maintained that it will not be adding the option in the near future.
The company wrote in a blog post: "We apologize for disappointing many people by failing to include same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life. Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to change this game's design, and such a significant development change can't be accomplished with a post-ship patch."
Tomodachi Life is a life simulation video game for Nintendo 3DS that was first released in April 2013 in Japan, and is set for release in North America and Europe next month. In Japan alone, almost half a million units have been sold, with total sales of 1.82 million as of December 2013.
Players can use their own voice and create their characters based on their personalities. The characters can perform different actions such as eating, changing outfits, falling in love and much more. But it appears characters will only be allowed to fall in love with the opposite sex.
Controversy surrounded the game prior to its upcoming release outside Japan because of the exclusion of same-sex relationships. Nintendo defended the gameplay design of Tomodachi.
"The ability for same-sex relationships to occur in the game was not part of the original game that launched in Japan, and that game is made up of the same code that was used to localise it for other regions outside of Japan," a statement released by Nintendo quoted by the Associated Press read.
Gamesradar also revealed that Nintendo has fixed a bug that allowed users to use a different gender during the game.
GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation, protested the game. Arizona resident Tye Marini, 23, campaigned to boycott the game's launch in western countries, CNET reports.
"I want to be able to marry my real-life fiance's Mii, but I can't do that," Marini said in an online video posted to Vimeo.
