We chat about videogames and videogame accessories.

The fact that it's a Japanese company is largely irrelevant from the perspective of whether or not it's disappointing to see the company choosing to ignore/deliberately disclude homosexuality; if anything, it is even more frustrating, because Nintendo is in a position to help contribute to the changing climate (as demonstrated by the increasing number of municipalities with anti-discrimination laws) simply by including the option to pair up same-sex miis. Instead, they bowed to either the threat of external backlash (bad) or to internal prejudice (worse).

Again, not surprising, but upsetting; the sort of actions consumers should make clear will not be profitable in the long run.

e: And even if lesbian sims only got their foot in the door because of hypothetical dudebros, the end result is same-sex relationships in a hugely popular game from a major mainstream studio; it would be problematic if it fetishized that sexuality or was sold or advertised as "Hey look lesbo simulator, dudes" but... it didn't. It was just a game that organically included homosexuality, in the nineties, and suffered no serious negative press and continued to include that feature in every iteration of the game they churned out for the next two decades.

Why things happen ultimately doesn't matter except in how they affect how things happen; in this case, it did not. If using fetishization as a tool to present homosexuality in a non-fetishized way to a mass audience, so be it.