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Nintendo full year financial results [23.2B yen loss, 3.6M Wii U/12M 3DS forecast]

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
The other part I don't understand is why they have been staffing up over the last few years but their output has decreased. They must really be struggling with HD development given that they have added around 1,000 people over the last 5 years and the games are still somewhere in the ether.

Miiverse mods.
 
The other part I don't understand is why they have been staffing up over the last few years but their output has decreased. They must really be struggling with HD development given that they have added around 1,000 people over the last 5 years and the games are still somewhere in the ether.

Not all of them will have been developers, plus 3DS + Wii U demands more man-power than previous generations just to maintain output.
 

nikatapi

Member
I hope the Q&A has some interesting questions. If Iwata apologizes once again, and says that one game can change everything, then nothing will change. I'm afraid that people at Nintendo still haven't understood all that had been done wrong with the WiiU, and that they still believe that the console will somehow magically become a good selling platform just because of one game.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
I do find this rather intriguing as well. Maybe they are working on something else.

I suppose these brand new employees are working on QOL (being assigned to the Wii___ / Brain Training lines dev team) and on games for new consoles.
 

Lacrus

Member
This E3 is going to be REALLY interesting now.

Iwata prob praying that Sony or MS don't hit a home run at E3.
But yea why isn't this guy canned, Nintendo needs a business man at the helm with a strong plan.
The "wait it out" plan doesn't fair well.
 
I know I'm going to regret posting this, but here goes.

Regarding the lack of new IP's from Nintendo, I think it's Miyamoto's fault far more than Iwata's. He's the head of the branch of Nintendo that creates entertainment (i.e. "games") and he's the one that's so obsessed with "we only create new characters when it's absolutely necessary." I get the vibe that Iwata just trusts him with figuring out the majority of game output, but I may be completely off base here.

I know I'm very much in the minority here, but I'd rather see Miyamoto go than Iwata.
 

mikeyw85

Banned
I can't understand why Nintendo isn't taking all of its potential on the table. Bring Pokemon MMo, A Mario 3D World multiplayer online, Zelda Online, Animal Crossing multiplayer Online, Mario Strikers, Mario Tennis, Xenoblade Online... All these games will make the diference as they become service games. They need to see that.

And bring all the major IPs outhere. Minecraft should be on WiiU, and if it can happen,then they should be putting their own take on the genre. Same with the great Shooters out there. They need to keep putting tiny teams developing family games for NintendoLand, that they're very important for the console.
They're just way behind. Everything to do with 'online' is about a decade behind where it should be and that's holding back some of the ideas you mentioned certainly. The lack of Pokemon MMO or proper 3D RPG is staggering. They could have done it a decade ago on the Gamecube, and it's still not here.
 

Sandfox

Member
Iwata prob praying that Sony or MS don't hit a home run at E3.
But yea why isn't this guy canned, Nintendo needs a business man at the helm with a strong plan.
The "wait it out" plan doesn't fair well.

Iwata or even a replacement wouldn't be able to do anything but wait until the company is ready to release something new.

They're just way behind. Everything to do with 'online' is about a decade behind where it should be and that's holding back some of the ideas you mentioned certainly. The lack of Pokemon MMO or proper 3D RPG is staggering. They could have done it a decade ago on the Gamecube, and it's still not here.

Why does everyone act like a Pokemon MMO needs to happen? Also what do you mean by 3D RPG?
 

Dunlop

Member
The situation will continue because Nintendo are too arrogant and insular to do anything else.

ding ding ding

The WiiU has been out long enough that they should have been doing anything to try and reverse the trainwreck

It's been months (if not a year) that I picked my up on liquidation at Costco for $199
 

AniHawk

Member
I know I'm going to regret posting this, but here goes.

Regarding the lack of new IP's from Nintendo, I think it's Miyamoto's fault far more than Iwata's. He's the head of the branch of Nintendo that creates entertainment (i.e. "games") and he's the one that's so obsessed with "we only create new characters when it's absolutely necessary." I get the vibe that Iwata just trusts him with figuring out the majority of game output, but I may be completely off base here.

I know I'm very much in the minority here, but I'd rather see Miyamoto go than Iwata.

yeah, miyamoto has incredible design sensibilities, but i don't really trust him with business decisions.
 
I know I'm going to regret posting this, but here goes.

Regarding the lack of new IP's from Nintendo, I think it's Miyamoto's fault far more than Iwata's. He's the head of the branch of Nintendo that creates entertainment (i.e. "games") and he's the one that's so obsessed with "we only create new characters when it's absolutely necessary." I get the vibe that Iwata just trusts him with figuring out the majority of game output, but I may be completely off base here.

I know I'm very much in the minority here, but I'd rather see Miyamoto go than Iwata.

I agree about Miyamoto holding back development on new IPs (probably), but I don't think he needs to go. He's still a great game designer, and, aside from his new IP (which may have turned to vaporware, who knows) has transitioned into more of a mentoring role for the new people coming in.

Iwata is still step one in my book. Miyamoto just makes the games, he doesn't make the high-up business decisions that are making the most impact. At least, I don't think.
 
I hope the Q&A has some interesting questions. If Iwata apologizes once again, and says that one game can change everything, then nothing will change. I'm afraid that people at Nintendo still haven't understood all that had been done wrong with the WiiU, and that they still believe that the console will somehow magically become a good selling platform just because of one game.

Thats what I'm afraid off as well!

So when is the Q&A happening? How many hours till we get some infos?
 

nikatapi

Member
I can't understand why Nintendo isn't taking all of its potential on the table. Bring Pokemon MMo, A Mario 3D World multiplayer online, Zelda Online, Animal Crossing multiplayer Online, Mario Strikers, Mario Tennis, Xenoblade Online... All these games will make the diference as they become service games. They need to see that.

And bring all the major IPs outhere. Minecraft should be on WiiU, and if it can happen,then they should be putting their own take on the genre. Same with the great Shooters out there. They need to keep putting tiny teams developing family games for NintendoLand, that they're very important for the console.

I think especially the online part is lacking due to the mentality that exists in Nintendo, it's mostly all about local multiplayer and family experiences. If i recall correctly, there was an interview-article that said that nobody in the hardware-network design used psn or xbox live, so they needed explanation about how those services work. This is the definition of "not having a clue".
 

Sandfox

Member
ding ding ding

The WiiU has been out long enough that they should have been doing anything to try and reverse the trainwreck

It's been months (if not a year) that I picked my up on liquidation at Costco for $199

Its not like there has ever been a chance of them doing something to save the Wii U.
 

Game Guru

Member
I think it was mostly from a financial health point of view. Sony's about to keel over and Nintendo is sinking pretty fast. Microsoft on the other hand, well they COULD easily withstand a bad situation for their console business, but from the sounds of it, the idea of spinning the Xbox division off seems to be gaining more support around there if some threads around here are to be believed.

Thinking back to this statement, what if we are seeing a prelude to another console gaming crash? Nintendo's War Chest isn't holding up, Microsoft is getting antsy about staying in consoles, and Sony as a company is collapsing around the PlayStation. These are not mutually exclusive events. Should all three events reach their logical conclusion within the same time frame, there will be a console gaming crash.
 

tanasten

glad to heard people isn't stupid anymore
They're just way behind. Everything to do with 'online' is about a decade behind where it should be and that's holding back some of the ideas you mentioned certainly. The lack of Pokemon MMO or proper 3D RPG is staggering. They could have done it a decade ago on the Gamecube, and it's still not here.

Yeah, they so way behind... These should be there, on the 3DS and the WiiU.

And there's much more to do:

Virtual Console and games lines NES Remix with Cross Buy, account sharing, voice chat for fucking everything, a proper friend list so you can invite friends to games... fuck... they're so out of the industry standards that I'm not suprissed about their actual position.

BTW, does anyone know what happened with Nintendo doing cinema? That would have been such a great deal too, movies and series promoting Nintendo games, just like Level 5 does. Fuck Nintendo, they're so smart for so many things, but so short minded for everything else...

I think especially the online part is lacking due to the mentality that exists in Nintendo, it's mostly all about local multiplayer and family experiences. If i recall correctly, there was an interview-article that said that nobody in the hardware-network design used psn or xbox live, so they needed explanation about how those services work. This is the definition of "not having a clue".

Yeah, their mentality and the idea of protecting children online is so out of play. As you say, not even knowing what the others have to offer online... this explains everything...
 
What exactly would it take for Iwata and others to get the boot?

How many fuckups does it require until the decision makers realise there is a major problem @ Nintendo.

Iwata and co enjoy their consolidated power too much to give up on that yet. Their US and EU branch are really just there to take orders and not be part of the process of decision making. The true revolution at Nintendo is the change of the way power is handled, it'll sort itself out with the input of everyone(their western branch, 3rd parties, customers). If only Iwata stops asking and starts to listen. This qol or whatever it's called thing though, it's like they're branching out and given up on the traditional market because they wrongly assume people aren't interested in Nintendo for the Wii U failures.
 
Iwata is still step one in my book. Miyamoto just makes the games, he doesn't make the high-up business decisions that are making the most impact. At least, I don't think.

I mean, he's on the Board of Directors, too. He's in charge of EAD's output, what gets green lit and supervising projects' development. He's not a director making games in the trenches and hasn't been for a while.
 

darkwing

Member
let me get something straight, they estimate 3.6M WiiUs shipped for the 12 months?

this can't possibly be right or I didn't read it properly
 

JordanN

Banned
Thinking back to this statement, what if we are seeing a prelude to another console gaming crash? Nintendo's War Chest isn't holding up, Microsoft is getting antsy about staying in consoles, and Sony as a company is collapsing around the PlayStation. These are not mutually exclusive events. Should all three events reach their logical conclusion within the same time frame, there will be a console gaming crash.
It's not the 80's anymore. I'm sure companies have done their research and wouldn't let a multi-billion dollar industry just fade in an instant if they saw it coming.

Whoever picks up the pieces would be rich.
 

mikeyw85

Banned
Why does everyone act like a Pokemon MMO needs to happen? Also what do you mean by 3D RPG?
For how well Pokemon games sell on the Gameboy's DS's, surely trying something on home consoles makes sense. Something with more to it than Pokemon Stadium as well. What I mean by 3D RPG would be just a regular RPG style game played in third or first person perspective, rather than top-down and flat-looking. A perspective that makes you feel like you'er walking around in that world, rather than watching from above.
 

jvm

Gamasutra.
Numbers are correct, as far as I can tell.
Thanks. Absolutely terrifying numbers.

If you consider that Japan might have received nearly all of those XLs, (480k sold at retail in Japan q1) then 2DS could be the one that gets the highest restocks elsewhere. They obviously overshipped everything to a degree, next Q should look better.
I don't know, those figures seem catastrophically low. Yes, next quarter will be better, but data like this is a huge drag on the annual rates I usually look at for the long term trend.
 

Mandoric

Banned
I agree about Miyamoto holding back development on new IPs (probably), but I don't think he needs to go. He's still a great game designer, and, aside from his new IP (which may have turned to vaporware, who knows) has transitioned into more of a mentoring role for the new people coming in.

Iwata is still step one in my book. Miyamoto just makes the games, he doesn't make the high-up business decisions that are making the most impact. At least, I don't think.

He's a senior member of the board and runs EAD, which is by far their largest development division. If he's not making major business decisions, he -should- be and we may have found part of the problem.

That said, he is both politically easier and more valuable than Iwata to push into that special window seat at Japanese companies reserved for guys who had an incredible spark of genius when in the trenches and then helped piss it all away when it got them promoted to management.
 

StuBurns

Banned
At least they're the closest thing to realistic that we've seen since the console's launch. I wonder how hard it is to say that number to investors.
The really scary thing about that number isn't even that the Wii U is selling nothing, it's that they clearly have no plan to rectify that in the next year.

Maybe it was naive, but I did really think a uPad-less SKU and a huge price cut was coming, it is clearly not.
 

ponpo

( ≖‿≖)
Divine Retribution for making the gamepad not support multitouch and thus be bad at rhythm gaming. No snakesalute for you nintendo ( ̄へ ̄)
 
D

Deleted member 125677

Unconfirmed Member
Wii U forecast seems realistic. :(

Well, at least they're not making dream-scenario forecasts anymore.
 
He's a senior member of the board and runs EAD, which is by far their largest development division. If he's not making major business decisions, he -should- be and we may have found part of the problem.

That said, he is both politically easier and more valuable than Iwata to push into that special window seat at Japanese companies reserved for guys who had an incredible spark of genius when in the trenches and then helped piss it all away when it got them promoted to management.
I honestly dont believe anyone here will find the problem. We have extremely limited knowledge.
 
The really scary thing about that number isn't even that the Wii U is selling nothing, it's that they clearly have no plan to rectify that in the next year.

Maybe it was naive, but I did really thought a uPad-less SKU and a huge price cut was coming, it is clearly not.

people don't understand that they are already taking a loss with the console at its current price. They can't drop the price now, what's the point of bleeding even more money? They consider, and I think they are right that the price is not the issue with the WiiU.

They just fucked up, I hope they realize how now.
 
For how well Pokemon games sell on the Gameboy's DS's, surely trying something on home consoles makes sense. Something with more to it than Pokemon Stadium as well. What I mean by 3D RPG would be just a regular RPG style game played in third or first person perspective, rather than top-down and flat-looking. A perspective that makes you feel like you'er walking around in that world, rather than watching from above.

Something like X ?
 

AniHawk

Member
The really scary thing about that number isn't even that the Wii U is selling nothing, it's that they clearly have no plan to rectify that in the next year.

Maybe it was naive, but I did really think a uPad-less SKU and a huge price cut was coming, it is clearly not.

rumor has it they made an initial 12m gamepads, and are currently stocking the rest of them, waiting to be shipped out. it could be that at some point in late 2015 they slash the price and do an overhaul for the machine- not just to get a gamepadless sku out there, but to prep for any potential backwards compatability their new console might have with the wii u, and just start selling the machine by itself with the gamepad separate.
 

Game Guru

Member
It's not the 80's anymore. I'm sure companies have done their research and wouldn't let a multi-billion dollar industry just fade in an instant if they saw it coming.

Whoever picks up the pieces would be rich.

They would if they see more profit in focusing on PC and mobile games instead of consoles and handhelds. At the moment, only Valve and Amazon are in any position to pick up the pieces should shit hit the fan, and well, what they made with Steam Machines and Fire TV are more devices with a console form factor with happen to play PC and mobile games. Doing their research could just as easily mean "avoid the video game console industry."
 

wsippel

Banned
Iwata prob praying that Sony or MS don't hit a home run at E3.
But yea why isn't this guy canned, Nintendo needs a business man at the helm with a strong plan.
The "wait it out" plan doesn't fair well.
He's not canned because he's still probably the most successful manager in the industry overall. He's also not solely responsible for everything that goes wrong. I believe there even was a Nikkei article a while ago claiming that Wii U wasn't really what Iwata wanted, it's what some members of the board wanted. If true, that failure would potentially strengthen Iwata's position internally.
 
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