• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Nintendo lowers forecast from ¥55B profit to ¥25B loss [3DS 18M->13.5; WiiU 9M->2.8M]

LiK

Member
It was obvious from the start that those projections were overly ambitious. So why did they make them in the first place?

Did they really think SM3DW was the "one game (that) can change everything"?

I don't expect Iwata to resign, simply because he was hand-picked by Yamauchi, and I suspect the idea was for Iwata to guide the company for as long as possible. But things are looking extremely bleak. Nintendo had better have something as surprising and huge as a Final Fantasy 7 remake coming to the Wii U, and they had better announce it soon.

they thought it would be like the Wii. they thought wrong.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
This is all just a feint so that investors will be pleased and amazed once the Wii U actually does sell 9 million by the end of the FY.

Iwata is playing four dimensional chess here.

They could just present it as a typo - the meant to hit 9m in three years not one. Assuming the next two years are better than this one.

Jesus.
 

mrpeabody

Member
These numbers are no surprise. The writing has been on the wall since the fall. This is just Nintendo accepting what everyone knows.

Next comes the really interesting part: What changes are they going to make, and what is their strategy to get out of this hole.

When's that earnings call again?
 

royalan

Member
Is anybody really surprised? Honest question.

Iwata has been saying "let's wait it out. One game can change everything" all year. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the sales of the Wii U (and Wii U software) have been in the toilet. since. launch.

This should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody.

Nintendo needs a major shake-up at this point. They needed one ages ago, but now the writing is on the wall. There is no recovery to be had by staying the course. It's time for heads to roll.
 

Minions

Member
I actually got a Wii-U for Christmas (by choice); I did my part!

This might explain why the 1st party titles never go down in price on the Wii-U. Sorta like the vita memory cards.
 

AniHawk

Member
Nintendo putting their old games (NES/SNES/GB era) at a slow pace on iOS wouldn't be a bad thing for them. It'd give them a lot of money to keep pumping into their console and handheld divisions. I remember Hideo Baba basically saying that they only put old Tales games on phones because it makes them a lot of money, but they aren't going to actually make flagship Tales titles for it.

given the years they had sitting with the wii and ds you'd think they'd try to make the virtual console into a really great feature instead of yet another thing they don't understand.

my guess is that there's concern that people wouldn't want 2d mario for their consoles when they could play the first game on their phones for a dollar.
 

NolbertoS

Member
Well, its Official "Iwata is DOOMED" Nintendo will live to fight another day another a new CEO. Might as well bring back Yamauchi from the dead using some Phoenix Down from Final Fantasy :p
 
Holy Nintenbomba

bullet_bill_meteor_display_display.gif



Who is gonna take the dive?

They could just present it as a typo - the meant to hit 9m in three years not one. Assuming the next two years are better than this one.

Jesus.

Mario Kart 8 will save them. Then lets just wait for the next big title to launch (in 2016)
 
Iwata...I don't see it working out for him.

He should announce that he is stepping back into software, maybe as the head of world-wide studios. Continue to be the public face of Nintendo, since he's very good at it.

And then put out the call for a new CEO. Maybe he can help choose. From his big corner office with the big window...
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Is anybody really surprised? Honest question.

Iwata has been saying "let's wait it out. One game can change everything" all year. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the sales of the Wii U (and Wii U software) have been in the toilet. since. launch.

This should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody.

Nintendo needs a major shake-up at this point. They needed one ages ago, but now the writing is on the wall. There is no recovery to be had by staying the course. It's time for heads to roll.

I don't think anyone is really surprised by most of the forecast reductions. But seeing it translate to the financials of the company highlight just how much damage their strategic blunders are costing. The revised financial projection casts the situation in stark relief: they are in deep trouble.
 

Kokonoe

Banned
So we all end up with another xbox one? No thanks

I wouldn't call that "understanding". We all saw all the heat Microsoft got for the Xbox One and they reversed their DRM. USA is Nintendo's biggest market, they should stop catering to Japan so much and cater to us for once by giving us better online functionality and more multimedia options. At least give us what PS3 and Xbox 360 have.
 

kirby_fox

Banned
Two years of operating losses I think is enough for Iwata to step down. In a company that has never had one before the 3DS/Wii U - I have a feeling tolerance levels won't be high.

The question is how much leverage stockholders will have. They not only will want to kick Iwata out, but they'll want to push Nintendo to release games on mobile phones. Give them one, but not the other.
 

Schnozberry

Member
we knew it had to happen but damn this is even harsher than expected

They lost money. Not the end of the universe. They are sitting on billions in cash reserves and even more in assets.

They just need to go back to the drawing board and try again. Sony lost money in even greater amounts on the PS3 for 3 straight years.
 
2014 will be an interesting year. Nintendo won't be going anywhere soon, so hopefully some big changes are in store. Just please nothing involving smartphones/tablets :/
 
when a quality software lineup with among the highest review scores and game of the year awards among any publisher in the industry isn't enough, I'm at a loss.

Hardware is really dragging them down.

Make money off your handhelds and stop spending so much trying to keep up in the big budget money pit of home console gaming.

Yes, i know PC makes as much sense as Smartphones, financially, but I would love to see Nintendo release an incredible PC controller that can be used for their games and launch their own Steam type service whereby you could play their games on PC/Mac. Alongside it continue to dominate the handheld space and make quality software there.

I do think it would be interesting to contrast this with the losses Sony experienced before, during, and after the PS3's launch. I wonder if the WiiU loses Nintendo anywhere near as much as the PS3 lost for Sony.
 
Heads up for anyone who thinks Iwata is stepping down: he shifted more of his goons on the board of directors over the last few quarters. Iwata isn't going anywhere.
 

hongcha

Member
Maybe they are announcing this now so they can announce a new CEO at the quarterly earnings meeting at the end of the month? That would be pretty wild.
 

Phatmac

Member
Big changes have to happen. Nintendo has to go all out for the Wii U this year and try to cut their losses. This is it.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Fire everywhere.

Jesus Christ.

"Guys, remember when we said we were going to make 55B Yen in profit? Well, we're not only going to make even half of that, or, well, any of it, but we're actually going to lose 25B Yen. Oops."

Did Wii U hardware NPD numbers come to light? Did they even hit 400k?
 

vinnygambini

Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
I don't know what to say quite frankly. I'm at a loss of words especially as the Yen is especially in their favor. Inventory markdown?

I'm glad I sold my stock at a profit, however Nintendo can simply not continue plunging its head in the sand and think everything will be fine. Their my favorite company out there; however, changes need to be made point blank.
 

AniHawk

Member
Is anybody really surprised? Honest question.

Iwata has been saying "let's wait it out. One game can change everything" all year. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the sales of the Wii U (and Wii U software) have been in the toilet. since. launch.

the only surprise here is if iwata honestly meant what he was saying. this is the management that slashed the price of the 3ds early on, dropped the price of the gamecube to $99 before it was two years old, and rushed mario kart 7 to the market so it would come out for the holiday season. the stance with the wii u is particularly odd because for over a year they seemed to pretend it didn't exist.
 
I expected this. Nintendo had a much weaker-than-expected holiday, so now that the holiday is over and all the sales figures are in, it's time to make some FY guidance slashes.
 
Top Bottom