DrunknMunky Veteran Posted January 18, 2014 Veteran Share Posted January 18, 2014 Collection of Nintendo news all related to the forecast cut: Nintendo CEO Iwata Says He Won't Resign In light of Nintendo's projections being cut, its CEO addresses his future. by Chris Pereira January 17, 2014 In light of Nintendo's sales forecast being cut dramatically today, president and CEO Satoru Iwata's future with the company could be called into question. But whatever the critics may think, Iwata doesn't have any intention of resigning. During a briefing with investors in Osaka earlier today, Iwata apologized for the company's performance before revealing his intention to keep the company's management team, himself included, intact for the time being. "There will be no major management shake-up in the short term," Iwata said, according to a report by Reuters. The 54-year-old Iwata has been in his current role since 2002, having previously worked at EarthBound and Super Smash Bros. developer HAL Laboratory. Last year, he assumed additional responsibilities when he was appointed CEO of Nintendo of America in an effort to streamline the company's international business. At least as of yet, it's international sales that have been problematic. Iwata said today, "In particular, sales in the US and European markets in which we entered the year-end sales season with a hardware markdown were significantly lower than our original forecasts, with both hardware and software sales experiencing a huge gap from their targets." More information regarding Nintendo's financials are expected later this month. For more in the meantime, check out IGN's full report on Nintendo cutting its projections as well as thoughts on whether a Wii U failure really matters. http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/01/17/nintendo-ceo-iwata-says-he-wont-resign?+main+twitter Nintendo slashes Wii U sales forecast from 9m to 2.8m UPDATE: Iwata apologises, will stay in office to see company return to profit. By Tom Phillips Published Friday, 17 January 2014 UPDATE: Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has apologised to shareholders for the company's business performance but pledged to stay in office, Nikkei reports (as translated by NeoGAF). Iwata admitted responsibility for today's poor financial results but said that the first order of business was restoring momentum as soon as possible, and that he will stay as president to see this through. ORIGINAL STORY: Nintendo has cut dramatically the number of Wii U and 3DS consoles it expects to sell by the end of the financial year. Wii U's estimated sales are down from 9 million to 2.8m, while 3DS is down from 18m to 13.5m. The company now expects another full year loss. Net income for the year had been pegged at a profit of 55 billion yen (?322m), but is now expected to be a net loss of 25 billion yen (?146m). The launch of Wii U hardware bundles and key games such as Super Mario 3D World helped the struggling platform a little, but the console still fell short of Nintendo's recovery plans "by a large margin". "In particular, sales in the US and European markets in which we entered the year-end sales season with a hardware markdown were significantly lower than our original forecasts, with both hardware and software sales experiencing a huge gap from their targets," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata explained today. "In addition, we did not assume at the beginning of the fiscal year that we would perform a markdown for the Wii U hardware in the US and European markets. This was also one of the reasons for lower sales and profit estimates." It's somewhat surprising to see how much the 3DS also underperformed - despite being 2013's the top-selling hardware platform in the US and over here in the UK it still did not meet Nintendo's lofty overseas targets. "Nintendo 3DS did not reach our sales targets in the overseas markets, and we were ultimately unable to achieve our goal of providing a massive sales boost to Nintendo 3DS in the year-end sales season," Iwata said. "Using the US market as an example, Nintendo 3DS became the top-selling platform in the last calendar year... however, the estimated annual sales of the Nintendo 3DS hardware remain significantly lower than our initial forecast at the beginning of the fiscal year." Despite the losses, there has so far been no indication that company president Satoru Iwata's job is in danger. More details of the company's financial situation will be published at the end of the month, Nintendo concluded. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-01-17-nintendo-slashes-wii-u-forecast-from-9m-to-2-8m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkMan Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 On one hand, I want them to crash hard and end up dropping hardware and develop for other platforms, their hardware doesn't really bring anything to the table. I have a WiiU and I would prefer if I could get the handful and ever more late Nintendo titles on another platforms. on the other hand, if nintendo crashes, they may crash too hard, which will cause Microsoft or Sony to buy them up. Which on the surface might seem like a good thing for the platform that buys it, BUT the reality is it's not. People can argue that nintendo first party titles aren't important all they want and that they're just remakes and the same game as on the SNES. But they're such a strong brand that they will skew the market dangerously if one of those gets exclusive access, and in the end it hurts the market. Maybe they should merge with EA, that's about the only option that wouldn't cause a skewed shift to the market at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
123456789A Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 On one hand, I want them to crash hard and end up dropping hardware and develop for other platforms, their hardware doesn't really bring anything to the table. I have a WiiU and I would prefer if I could get the handful and ever more late Nintendo titles on another platforms. on the other hand, if nintendo crashes, they may crash too hard, which will cause Microsoft or Sony to buy them up. Which on the surface might seem like a good thing for the platform that buys it, BUT the reality is it's not. People can argue that nintendo first party titles aren't important all they want and that they're just remakes and the same game as on the SNES. But they're such a strong brand that they will skew the market dangerously if one of those gets exclusive access, and in the end it hurts the market. Maybe they should merge with EA, that's about the only option that wouldn't cause a skewed shift to the market at this point. Sega should make the Dreamcast 2 featuring Nintendo exclusives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. S. Veteran Posted January 18, 2014 Veteran Share Posted January 18, 2014 Maybe it's the beginning of the end? How long did SEGA hold out after the Dreamcast faded? Nintendo is sitting on a stack of DS cash but it won't last forever, not with the WiiU tanking like that and no decent 3rd party support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkMan Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Sega should make the Dreamcast 2 featuring Nintendo exclusives. There already was a DC2, and 3 and now 4, though they changed name to Xbox and let MS spend all the R&D money ;p Maybe it's the beginning of the end? How long did SEGA hold out after the Dreamcast faded? Nintendo is sitting on a stack of DS cash but it won't last forever, not with the WiiU tanking like that and no decent 3rd party support. Nintendo has a lot more money, power and support than sega had, and a stronger brand. Sega was fading before the DC, it was the final nail in the coffin. Phouchg and 123456789A 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phouchg Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 How do they pronounce Catbert in Japanese? It might be wise for them to prepare when the takeover happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunknMunky Veteran Posted January 18, 2014 Author Veteran Share Posted January 18, 2014 On one hand, I want them to crash hard and end up dropping hardware and develop for other platforms, their hardware doesn't really bring anything to the table. I have a WiiU and I would prefer if I could get the handful and ever more late Nintendo titles on another platforms. on the other hand, if nintendo crashes, they may crash too hard, which will cause Microsoft or Sony to buy them up. Which on the surface might seem like a good thing for the platform that buys it, BUT the reality is it's not. People can argue that nintendo first party titles aren't important all they want and that they're just remakes and the same game as on the SNES. But they're such a strong brand that they will skew the market dangerously if one of those gets exclusive access, and in the end it hurts the market. Maybe they should merge with EA, that's about the only option that wouldn't cause a skewed shift to the market at this point. I've always held the opinion that Nintendo's IP is classic, in as much the same way fairytales are or Disney's vault is. The stories are recycled a lot, there's only so much you can do with a plumber rescuing a princess, let's not shy away from it. The strength in the IP has and always will be the gameplay and how it has reinvented itself repeatedly. There isn't a single game that does platforming better than Mario. As long as there are new gamers being brought into the world, you're going to have a market to sell to just like Disney with Mickey, Lion King, Nemo etc etc Timeless characters never die. As hard as it will be, I hope they don't give up and push these IPs hard with the Wii U. We don't need Zelda's to be in development for 5 years, just look at Skyward Sword and ALBW. People actually rank them higher than the holy grail aka OoT. I'll go completely left field with the next suggestion and say they don't partner with anyone in gaming. Instead partner with Disney. It creates a massive monopoly with Star Wars and Marvel in the mix, but if you want to survive, there's nobody better. Not only that, but Disney would finally have someone to make decent games again. Maybe it's the beginning of the end? How long did SEGA hold out after the Dreamcast faded? Nintendo is sitting on a stack of DS cash but it won't last forever, not with the WiiU tanking like that and no decent 3rd party support. It's definitely a bitter sweet week for Nintendo. The 3DS was the top selling console of 2013 but the Wii U is the polar opposite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torolol Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 is WiiU tanking as bad or worse than N64 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macrosslover Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 is WiiU tanking as bad or worse than N64 ? N64 sold better than the Gamecube which (if you completely ignore the existence of virtual boy) is Nintendo's worst performing console ever. Right now Wii U is on track to beat Gamecube to the bottom unless Nintendo changes something. Maybe they could consider giving people what they have been asking for and complaining about over the last ten years now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PixilEyes Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I wonder what will happen Monday. 18% for any company is devastating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torolol Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 i would use that to grab more stock. theres still no significant contender for dedicated handheld game console, yet (multipurpose tablet/phone notwithstanding) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 i would use that to grab more stock. theres still no significant contender for dedicated handheld game console, yet (multipurpose tablet/phone notwithstanding) The shortfall in 3DS sales is most likely directly related to the new competition from mobile devices. Sadly the WiiU didn't do as well as I had hoped :/ to be honest it's my favorite console this generation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benthebear Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Hopefully it's the kick in the pills Nintendo needs to make them wake up a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkMan Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 The shortfall in 3DS sales is most likely directly related to the new competition from mobile devices. Sadly the WiiU didn't do as well as I had hoped :/ to be honest it's my favorite console this generation I'd argue that the WiiU is not part of this generation, but rather inbetween this and the last. Both form a launch window perspective, capabilities and performance. and the interesting features it does have like the pad, only has one good use, to play games as a handheld with the power of a console.. only it has the range of an old wired telephone with standard cord. It's only saving grace is it's first party games, only problem the majority of them aren't out yet and won't be for over half a year, and after that, there's nothing else on the horizon until their sequels and since Nintendo doesn't do yearly sequels that means after this batch of games, there's effectively nothing since what little third party interest it had has evaporated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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