Nintendo lost $97M last quarter even with the success of Mario Kart 8

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Nintendo lost $97M last quarter even with the success of Mario Kart 8

 

Nintendo lost $97.2 million in the yearly quarter ending June 30, the company confirmed in its latest batch of quarterly results.

 

The staggering loss comes even despite the successful sales of Mario Kart 8 earlier this year, which saw shipments of 2.82 million. Why? Nintendo states that these sales can be attributed to existing Wii U owners and not new buyers. The company shipped just 510,000 units of the console between April and June.

 

Despite this, Nintendo still expects to hit its target of 3.6 million units sold for this fiscal year. The Wii U's total shipments rose to 6.68 million as of June.

 

The company confirms Mario Kart 8 represents 65 percent of the total 4.39 million software shipments made in this three month period, 80 percent of which came from outside Japan.

 

Nintendo appears to be finding most of its success in handheld devices, however. The company shipped 820,000 3DS units across April to June, taking the system's total figures to over 44 million.

 

Looking forward, Nintendo said it expects to continue producing "robust" profits from the Nintendo 3DS system with the release of the Pokemon Sapphire and Ruby remakes, as well as Super Smash Bros. in October.

 

Source: Polygon

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1, Lower the price of the Wii U by $100 an watch the $97M loss turn into a $97M profit.

2. Nintendo needs to release a new portable (post DS). Something with exclusive rights to Minecraft content (for example) would be a success (IMHO), along with a HD screen (for sharp graphics). Screen size should be around 5.5". (An open system for) music should also be a main focus.

[HawkMan]

Sell your product at a loss and make millions... yup makes sense.

 

They need a bigger library for that to work, even then it requires that everyone buys 3-5 games.

[satysin]

1, Lower the price of the Wii U by $100 an watch the $97M loss turn into a $97M profit.

2. Nintendo needs to release a new portable (post DS). Something with exclusive rights to Minecraft content (for example) would be a success (IMHO), along with a HD screen (for sharp graphics). Screen size should be around 5.5". (An open system for) music should also be a main focus.

1. They need to lower the price of the Wii U but selling it at a loss, which I suspect a $100 would mean, probably isn't a good idea.

 

2. A new handheld sounds nice but the 3DS has a lot of power still so why does it need to be replaced with yet another piece of hardware? Things like Minecraft makes sense to me but I can't see Nintendo doing that sadly. An HD screen though? Why? Especially as you mention Minecraft which is probably one of the worst games when trying to sell an HD device :p Same with music, nobody uses their 3DS for music and why would they when they already have other devices (most likely a smart phone) which will do the job better?

 

What Nintendo need to work on, in my opinion, is building a solid online experience. This means ditching locking content to consoles, etc. They need proper account management in the same way as XBL/PSN. They have a solid few months of game releases coming out so I think they might do quite well this holiday season. A price drop in October would also be a huge win for them. If I could pick up a 32GB Premium model with Mario Kart 8 and an included Pro Controller for under ?200 (for example) I would be pretty damn likely to do it. Through in a free digital game such as Pikmin 3 and I am totally sold.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

As someone who recently picked up a WiiU (for the second time I may add, I sold my original launch version) and a 3DS, this makes me sad.

I just love playing Nintendo 1st Party Games.

They are about as pure as they get imho from a history perspective and a pure playing games perspective.

Are they a tad outdated perhaps compared to other offerings? Especially from an online and technology perspective? Sure. But that is not why they exist.

They exist to have fun. Video games should be about having fun more than anything else.

But really all one needs to do is look at the types of comments across all video game forums and communities to see that many people seem to have forgotten this fact. Video games are serious. It is why you can end up with a 100+ page thread on Neogaf just about the frame rate of one game.

When it comes to Nintendo's games, there is no drama. They are what they are. 

For some people this is no longer enough.

For myself, it is why I am pretty much having the most fun overall playing games on the WiiU than I currently am on the One or the PS4.

Perhaps I am antiquated in my thinking though, and it seems as if Nintendo very well may be as well. A $97 million dollar loss is brutal no matter what business you are in.

I just hope they make it through this all. If they do not, I hope they seriously would consider releasing their titles on other platforms. Although it would not be the same, I always want Nintendo to be part of my video game lexicon.

[jerzdawg]

As someone who recently picked up a WiiU (for the second time I may add, I sold my original launch version) and a 3DS, this makes me sad.

I just love playing Nintendo 1st Party Games.

They are about as pure as they get imho from a history perspective and a pure playing games perspective.

Are they a tad outdated perhaps compared to other offerings? Especially from an online and technology perspective? Sure. But that is not why they exist.

They exist to have fun. Video games should be about having fun more than anything else.

But really all one needs to do is look at the types of comments across all video game forums and communities to see that many people seem to have forgotten this fact. Video games are serious. It is why you can end up with a 100+ page thread on Neogaf just about the frame rate of one game.

When it comes to Nintendo's games, there is no drama. They are what they are. 

For some people this is no longer enough.

For myself, it is why I am pretty much having the most fun overall playing games on the WiiU than I currently am on the One or the PS4.

Perhaps I am antiquated in my thinking though, and it seems as if Nintendo very well may be as well. A $97 million dollar loss is brutal no matter what business you are in.

I just hope they make it through this all. If they do not, I hope they seriously would consider releasing their titles on other platforms. Although it would not be the same, I always want Nintendo to be part of my video game lexicon.

Completely agree.  Between Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, and Mario World I've played more hours on the Wii U then I did on the One/360/PS3 in the same timeframe. 

[Chasethebase Veteran]

I know Mario Kart 8 has been a success, but you can't suddenly expect results in the same quarter.

 

Give it a bit of time, and once the rest of the big releases are out then we may see an uptick in results.

[+Warwagon MVC]

I think one thing that drove sales or the original was the softmod community and how easy it was to install the homebrew channel on.

[Davo]

Nintendo decided to either be stubborn or coast this generation. I can't tell which. They only have themselves to blame, especially since they have so much still up their sleeve.

 

If they ever released a Pok?mon game for a home console in the style of their handhelds, probably everyone on this earth would buy one. If it were multiplayer, aliens would finally visit us just to buy it.

 

If their next console were bundled with their current or new handheld and marketed it like PS4/Vita, there would be no more war, because everyone would be too busy playing the ###### out of it.

[LaP]

Nintendo just needs to fire Iwata. It should have been done years ago.

[johnnyq3]

Nintendo just needs to fire Iwata. It should have been done years ago.

Iwata helped with the success of the Wii and DS, he is a developer and coder so I would trust him more than some other person.  They have shown off new things at E3 and everyone seems to like it.  They are turning it around but it sadly can't be overnight as they try their hardest to make their games without the new industry standard of day one patches.

[FiB3R]

I'm looking to pick one up this crimbo, I wonder how many others are about ready to do the same.

 

Are Nintendo better placed in the cycle to offer up a killer console in a couple of years time, putting this 1080/60 crap to bed, maybe even some 4K love?

 

Sell um cheap, lose money on the hardware for a couple of years? I don't know, I'd Just love to see Nintendo on top again (for the right reasons, not because 5 year olds and their grandparents enjoy bowling).

[123456789A]

I'm looking to pick one up this crimbo, I wonder how many others are about ready to do the same.

 

Are Nintendo better placed in the cycle to offer up a killer console in a couple of years time, putting this 1080/60 crap to bed, maybe even some 4K love?

 

Sell um cheap, lose money on the hardware for a couple of years? I don't know, I'd Just love to see Nintendo on top again (for the right reasons, not because 5 year olds and their grandparents enjoy bowling).

 

I think the market segment that absolutely needs 4K resolution will either:

 

1) Buy a PC

2) Steam Machine (Buy a PC)

 

Crazy specs are nice to have, but they don't always translate into mass market adoption. Nintendo's target demographic does not really care that much about resolution, shaders, or teraflops... they just want to see Yoshi stick out its tongue and ingest turtle shells.

[FiB3R]

Seems their target demographic were not impressed. And neither were we.

If the Wii U had been a power house, I think it would have sold far better than it has.

[The_Observer]

ive read the nintendo has so much money in the back, it would take 10-15 years of loses before they need to worry. IMHO get your old school games onto iPhones/iPads, who doesnt want Pokemon Red and Blue on there iPhone!!

[Gromvar]

ive read the nintendo has so much money in the back, it would take 10-15 years of loses before they need to worry. IMHO get your old school games onto iPhones/iPads, who doesnt want Pokemon Red and Blue on there iPhone!!

 

As long as they make games that are applicable to the hardware, but please don't just port to the phone. I've tried emulated games on my phone, and it's just not the same without tactile buttons. 

[LaP]

As long as they make games that are applicable to the hardware, but please don't just port to the phone. I've tried emulated games on my phone, and it's just not the same without tactile buttons. 

 

If Nintendo management would have half a brain they would release their old games on Steam. Or even better buy some already done emulators on PC, merge them and add a store to them so people could buy old NES, SNES, N64, GB, CBC, GBA, Etc games on it. 3rd party companies could also sell their old games on the store for a fee equals to a % of the price asked.

[The_Observer]

As long as they make games that are applicable to the hardware, but please don't just port to the phone. I've tried emulated games on my phone, and it's just not the same without tactile buttons. 

 

Those are third party, i would think nintendo would have a better system.