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[Daingurse]

They're gonna need to send in the National Guard to take him out, cause he ain't going nowhere.

Bahahahaha, fucking loved Wolf of Wall Street.

 

[CrisKre]

Iwata new test of fire starts now, with this new direction he is hinting at. His business acumen will be what swims or sinks nintendo from now on. I think he is smart enough to figure it out. Very very interesting to watch.

 

[Sandfox]

Iwata new test of fire starts now, with this new direction he is hinting at. His business acumen will be what swims or sinks nintendo from now on. I think he is smart enough to figure it out. Very very interesting to watch.

The weird thing about Iwata is that I want him gone in favor of someone younger but i also feel that he is capaple in taking the company in a different direction if he actually tried and got the board behind him rather than trying to capitalize on past successes like he tried with the DS and Wii.

 

[Anticitizen One]

Are the people defending Iwata like little kids who don't really understand how business works and don't know what Nintendo was like in the 80s-early 00s or are they actual adults that are buying into Iwata's bullshit?

"Oh he looks like he really loves video games so he should totally stay and get paid millions of dollars to destroy Nintendo's brand". Come on cut that shit out already.

 

[royalan]

I consistently see Satoru Iwata attributed with the success of the Nintendo DS and Wii, but am I the only one who gets the feeling that he inherited these successes from past management?

You're not the only one. So far, ALL of Iwata's moves with the 3DS and the Wii U seem to only superficially mimic the original DS and Wii. As though making pearl-white hardware with an attached control gimmick was all that made those platforms successful.

Iwata seems to have no clue what truly made the Wii and DS successful. If he did, he wouldn't have tried to mimic those consoles so exact.

Are the people defending Iwata like little kids who don't really understand how business works and don't know what Nintendo was like in the 80s-early 00s or are they actual adults that are buying into Iwata's bullshit?

"Oh he looks like he really loves video games so he should totally stay and get paid millions of dollars to destroy Nintendo's brand". Come on cut that shit out already.

This was the true purpose of Iwata Asks and Nintendo Direct. Iwata has tied his own image so intrinsically to Nintendo that fans take criticism of Iwata as a slight to Nintendo itself. To a lot of people in this thread, Iwata IS Nintendo...and that's just sad. It seems like they don't even remember that Nintendo was no only doing fine before Iwata, it was doing better before Iwata.

He is truly going to drive this company into the ground.

 

[fluffydelusions]

They're gonna need to send in the National Guard to take him out, cause he ain't going nowhere.

perfect lol.

 

[Anticitizen One]

Good, Iwata is rad. He's a CEO with a true game dev history, not a university MBA.

Guy just needs to shake up the Nintendo corporate structure to make it less conservative and more forward thinking.

and Bush is a real American who speaks like a regular joe like the kind of person you want to have a beer with. Lets make him President for life too.

 

[JordanN]

Are the people defending Iwata like little kids who don't really understand how business works and don't know what Nintendo was like in the 80s-early 00s or are they actual adults that are buying into Iwata's bullshit?

"Oh he looks like he really loves video games so he should totally stay and get paid millions of dollars to destroy Nintendo's brand". Come on cut that shit out already.

Liking video games should never be a criteria for running multi-billion companies IMO.

In a way, it reminds me of people who want to work in the game industry "because they love games" but ignore how much work, time and effort actually goes into making them. Coincidently, those are the same people who are the first to fail.

 

[Pie and Beans]

Iwata new test of fire starts now, with this new direction he is hinting at. His business acumen will be what swims or sinks nintendo from now on. I think he is smart enough to figure it out. Very very interesting to watch.

The weird thing about Iwata is that I want him gone in favor of someone younger but i also feel that he is capaple in taking the company in a different direction if he actually tried and got the board behind him rather than trying to capitalize on past successes like he tried with the DS and Wii.

Yes, I am sure now that he is going to actually try this time around and has just been voted back into Nintendo presidency with a mandate for change, its going to be a whole new Iwata experience.

He could have done any of this at any time! There were no powers above Iwata hamstringing him. That it took an apocalyptic year to even shift his "staying the course" plan into the extreme "maybe we'll change some things I guess" counterplan sort of paints him as not exactly the great winds of change the company clearly needs at this point.

 

[Phazon]

They're gonna need to send in the National Guard to take him out, cause he ain't going nowhere.

That's Reggie already

 

[Haint]

So, all those people that say Iwata has a clear vision for Nintendo... Can you help me figure it out? Because I'll be honest, I see the Wii U and the last thing I see is a clear vision.

Nintendo obviously considered the GameCube a failure. Yes, 20 million units is 'a lot', and yes, it has some amazing games, but the existence of the Wii (and the complete change in philosophy that brought about) is proof enough of that.

What was the Wii? An attempt to target a different market than the one consoles traditionally went after. With the low price and easier to use control scheme, they positioned it in such a way that it was accessible to the mass market. That was having a vision for your product.

I don't need to point out that this strategy worked beautifully, and Iwata deserves a lot of the credit for that happening for taking the decision to shift the company's strategy.

Fast forward some years, and here comes the Wii U. Now, riddle me this... what is the Wii U? Is it a Wii 2? Well, not philosophically. It's not low priced, it doesn't have an easy to use control scheme (optional Wii controllers notwithstanding), and more importantly it's hard to explain what it is.

But at the same time, it's not a traditional gaming console. It doesn't have third-party support and cutting edge graphics the traditional console audience wants.

Where they going after the tablet kids? Because I don't think I need to waste space laying out the reasons why this isn't a tablet either.

So, what is it? What is the point of the Wii U? Why does it exist, what market is it going after exactly? I'm sorry, but I fail to see any coherent vision to it (not to mention the total lack of a killer app to even justify the touchscreen).

Some will try to brush this off as 'just a mistake', but I consider it to be far more grave than that. The decision to put 3D on the 3DS could be considered 'just a mistake' to me, since it's at least obvious what they were attempting with it. But the Wii U? I'm still trying to figure it out.

Wii U was conceived as a cash grab at the tablet audience. They recognized this was where the majority of Wii audience went, but they blew the execution. The software performance and support (number/variety of apps, games, and user experience) literally could not have been any worse (still is to this day), and the U pad looks and performs like a Fisher Price My First iPad next to real devices. They no doubt envisioned peddling cheap (to develop) mini-games (Angry Birds or P&D type shit) featuring Nintendo's Mascot characters for $20-$40 a pop to the Soccer Mom and Retirement Home Blue Ocean. They grossly underestimated the difficulty of developing a fully featured OS and online store/ecosystem, and just completely botched their entire plan from day 0.

 

[Sandfox]

Yes, I am sure now that he is going to actually try this time around and has just been voted back into Nintendo presidency with a mandate for change, its going to be a whole new Iwata experience.

He could have done any of this at any time! There were no powers above Iwata hamstringing him. That it took an apocalyptic year to even shift his "staying the course" plan into the extreme "maybe we'll change some things I guess" counterplan sort of paints him as not exactly the great winds of change the company clearly needs at this point.

I just want to see what he's planning and how the investors react to it because if its not a good plan I'm expecting him to be gone really fast.

 

[Anticitizen One]

A fresh start for the chairman of the board.

*high five*

 

[Dice]

Wii U was conceived as a cash grab at the tablet audience. They recognized this was where the majority of Wii audience went, but they blew the execution. The software performance and support (number/variety of apps, games, and user experience) literally could not have been any worse (still is to this day), and the U pad looks and performs like a Fisher Price My First iPad next to real devices. They no doubt envisioned peddling cheap (to develop) mini-games (Angry Birds or P&D type shit) featuring Nintendo's Mascot characters for $20-$40 a pop to the Soccer Mom and Retirement Home Blue Ocean.

 

[royalan]

I just want to see what he's planning and how the investors react to it because if its not a good plan I'm expecting him to be gone really fast.

How many more years is it going to take before people realize that Iwata isn't planning anything?

God, he's been "planning" since that first botched unveiling in 2011. And all his planning amounted to was staying the course and "let's wait and see."

The man does not have a vision for how to fix this mess, and it's like people are waiting until he literally says that before they believe it, despite all the facts screaming it from the rooftops.

Iwata is completely bankrupt on ideas. The proof is all around you. Any insistence on not resigning at this point is born of pride and his unchecked ego, and not some secret master plan that's going to pull Nintendo out of the death spiral they're in now.

 

[Pie and Beans]

I just want to see what he's planning and how the investors react to it because if its not a good plan I'm expecting him to be gone really fast.

When do you expect him to lay out his Underpant Gnome-esque plan in full? On the 29th, a Nintendo Direct, or in March/April when the full fiscal year results come in? With stock plunging, I would have expected him to have more to say than "some business restructure" on Monday to be perfectly honest.

 

[Anticitizen One]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XR7LaJLLf8

 

[Sandfox]

How many more years is it going to take before people realize that Iwata isn't planning anything?

God, he's been "planning" since that first botched unveiling in 2011. And all his planning amounted to was staying the course and "let's wait and see."

The man does not have a vision for how to fix this mess, and it's like people are waiting until he literally says that before they believe it, despite all the facts screaming it from the rooftops.

Iwata is completely bankrupt on ideas. The proof is all around you. Any insistence on not resigning at this point is born of pride and his unchecked ego, and not some secret master plan that's going to pull Nintendo out of the death spiral they're in now.

I just want to see what his new approach is now that he can't "stay on course" since the Wii U can't be saved which would obviously have to be different from anything we've seen from him. Just because the Wii U idea turned out bad doesn't make it wrong to think he could've been thinking up some ideas over the past few months to share at the investors meeting and if those plans suck then the investors and possibly the board will want him canned.

When do you expect him to lay out his Underpant Gnome-esque plan in full? On the 29th, a Nintendo Direct, or in March/April when the full fiscal year results come in? With stock plunging, I would have expected him to have more to say than "some business restructure" on Monday to be perfectly honest.

I'm expecting him to explain the companies new approach and his short/mid terms plans to the investors on the 29th especially since they'll be angry and have tons of questions for him.

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

If Iwata is devious behind the scenes he is at least better for gamers than Kotick.

Well, even Kotick felt that Nintendo failing with the WiiU was going to be a bad omen.

Spoiler

It doesn't, but at least he felt something.

 

[Platy]

This thread is out of order...who the fuck references a it prints money gif..? lol

The world is out of order

They have the best selling portable console and the not worst selling overall console.

Sony has a console that sells good and the worst selling overall console

And Iwata is the one with problems

 

[Pie and Beans]

I'm expecting him to explain the companies new approach and his short/mid terms plans to the investors on the 29th especially since they'll be angry and have tons of questions for him.

Fair enough. Prepare to be intensely disappointed as it all amounts to "we will consider new opportunities moving forward" wind-service.

The world is out of order

They have the best selling portable console and the not worst selling overall console.

Sony has a console that sells good and the worst selling overall console

And Iwata is the one with problems

This is, how you say, "the funney joke", yis?

 

[Chris1964]

The world is out of order

They have the best selling portable console and the not worst selling overall console.

Sony has a console that sells good and the worst selling overall console

And Iwata is the one with problems

Best defense is attack

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

The world is out of order

They have the best selling portable console and the not worst selling overall console.

Sony has a console that sells good and the worst selling overall console

And Iwata is the one with problems

And still devs prefer to port to Vita than WiiU.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

Good. Iwata is amazing and I don't think the Wii U bomba is entirely his fault.

Are you kidding? The buck stops with him. It's 100% his fault.

 

[sono]

To what extent was Iwata involved with the WiiU and/or 3DS ?

 

[Sandfox]

Fair enough. Prepare to be intensely disappointed as it all amounts to "we will consider new opportunities moving forward" wind-service.

I personally want him gone so it wouldn't really bother me if he just made everyone angry.

 

[runnin_blue]

And still devs prefer to port to Vita than WiiU.

I'm not going to defend Iwata, but what ports are you referring to?

From where I'm standing, the Vita is just as much a steaming pile of dog shit as far as third parties are concerned.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

do you realize that if he resigns the stock will not be positively affected at all, and may even fall in a faster pace, do you?

Are you so sure? If so you should go into investing.

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

I'm not going to defend Iwata, but what ports are you referring to?

From where I'm standing, the Vita is just as much a steaming pile of dog shit as far as third parties are concerned.

Sport titles.

 

[UberTag]

Nintendo has no vision for the Wii U and Iwata seems content to BURY this company by leveraging his legacy against any positive initiatives Nintendo could choose to explore to reverse course.

And I have been saying this since June 2011...

I've had nothing but a bad feeling about this console since it's announcement. I love Nintendo games, so it's likely a purchase, but there's a lot about this system that sounds...well...kind of bad.

It's the most uncharacteristic platform launch I've ever seen from Nintendo. Sure, the Wii had its doubters but Wii Sports was front and center, was tangible and while different you could see how it could win over people who hadn't been gaming for a while. In short, it tapped into a new audience.

With the Wii U we have no firm games... we have tech demos.

There's potential with asymmetrical gameplay... but it can only stream to a single controller.

Nintendo wants third parties to bring their big franchises to the system... but it has no plan for online support, community building, achievements, storage for DLC and other key things gamers take for granted.

Everyone says "never bet against Nintendo" and I agree with them when it comes to portables. But Nintendo's console mindshare steadily decreased until the Wii's launch for over a decade and it hasn't had concentrated third-party support with AAA titles aplenty since the days of the SNES.

I will buy a Wii U eventually because I love Nintendo's properties. I owned a GameCube and loved it. But that was largely a 3rd place system and if Nintendo can't find a way to bring in new audiences or to motivate their base of Wii owner casuals to upgrade, they're going to run into trouble.

No it wont. I promise you that come year one about all who own the Wii-U will be all who owned the Gamecube in its first year, Nintendo fans.

I'm not sure they'll even get those guys any more... for three reasons.

1) Not when those fans know Nintendo won't bring over fringe first-party efforts that may appeal to them (i.e. Xenoblade).

2) Not when those fans can get a "better than Wii quality" first-party experience on the 3DS. When the Gamecube came out the only other place they had to go for Nintendo first-party efforts was a first-gen GBA without backlighting. That's hardly comparable to the experience the Gamecube offered.

3) Not when those launch era Gamecube purchasers bought the system figuring it would be that gen's 4-player party system and would attract all of the big first & third-party efforts for the next four years. The PS2 was technically inferior (albeit it could play DVDs) and the Xbox was "that Halo system". Apart from looking like a Fischer-Price lunchbox, the Cube had no pronounced deficiencies over its competition apart from DVD playback. Online gaming in the console space was still an unproven gimmick that didn't exactly pay off for the Dreamcast.

The Wii U has plenty of pronounced deficiencies which Nintendo needs to plug over the next year. Thus far all they're doing is shouting THIRD PARTIES, THIRD PARTIES, WE LOVE THIRD PARTIES at the top of their lungs without even so much as an exclusive title commitment of a major third party franchise to tout.

Sure, the 3DS's launch line up was anemic. But will that even matter in six months?

The 3DS will be fine once the games arrive. Just as it always has been with Nintendo portables.

Wii U has an identity crisis, however.

 

[neoism]

guys question did he make them more with the wii or lose more with the wiiu?
I really like to know if anyone can answer please....

 

[Shaanyboi]

For some reason I imagine him singing a cover of "I Will Survive" with the lyrics changed... "I WON'T RESIGN!"

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

Iwata didn't make those GIFs. He's been nothing but humble in every public appearance. And frankly, the same people doubting Iwata now would've doubted him before the original Wii. He takes gambles, and some pay off, and others don't.

The Wii was the right gimmick at the right time. The rest of their consoles (not handhelds) have been mediocre to poor.

 

[metalslimer]

guys question did he make them more with the wii or lose more with the wiiu?
I really like to know if anyone can answer please....

They made more money during one year of the Wii than they have lost all together during the Wii U.

However, if you are trying to get at that Nintendo should keep him because he made so much money than that is just bad business. Nintendo's business model even during the last generation was not sustainable and required the right timing and lot of other factors to go right.

He takes gambles, and some pay off, and others don't.

What a godawful way of doing business.

 

[runnin_blue]

The Wii was the right gimmick at the right time. The rest of their consoles (not handhelds) have been mediocre to poor.

Wow. You might want to clarify which consoles you mean coz that's a pretty blanket statement.

Spoiler

And completely wrong.

 

[Jomjom]

I agree 100%.

I'm ready for a change from either Iwata or Nintendo, where we see less Mario as the solution for catch all. The hardware might have innovative gimmicks, yet, it all means nothing when software is always dressed & wrapped in that same Mario solution.

Totally agree. I've been saying this for a long time, but Nintendo to me and a lot of people is like the Disney of video games. At one time, Disney was virtually all Mickey Mouse cartoons, but eventually they branched out. Nintendo needs to do that as well, not just release Mario game after Mario game. Yes, yes they add innovation (not always, but usually) to the Mario games, but just seeing the same character over and over is tiring.

 

[Dice]

2) Not when those fans can get a "better than Wii quality" first-party experience on the 3DS. When the Gamecube came out the only other place they had to go for Nintendo first-party efforts was a first-gen GBA without backlighting. That's hardly comparable to the experience the Gamecube offered.

This is legit for me. I love my 3DS and with all the Nintendo goodness coming out for it the Wii U has appeal on tech terms but not experience exclusivity to justify the added cost. I'm sitting here hoping the 3DS gets its own Pikmin but I can let the rest slide with the equivalents (and exclusives) 3DS is offering over the Wii U. Why? Because if the problem is cost, waiting it out and watching it bomb will drop that cost for me and I'll get to play those games later with the added bonus of the 3DS ones being less fresh in my mind.

Yea, it's kind of ruthless in a sense, but they don't have the success with the system to power a social urgency to get it now. I don't have three Nintendo-loving friends to play with and even if some of my friends did like that, coordinating our schedules just to play Wii U together simply isn't how life out of school works. And Nintendo has focused on in-person experiences rather than capacity for online multiplayer with friends (not pubs), so if I'll be playing solo I might as well buy it whenever it is best for just me.

 

[jblank83]

and Bush is a real American who speaks like a regular joe like the kind of person you want to have a beer with. Lets make him President for life too.

And Anticitizen One is a good poster who makes goodposts that totally aren't fallacious and he/she/it treats other board members respectfully.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

Wow. You might want to clarify which consoles you mean coz that's a pretty blanket statement.

Spoiler

And completely wrong.

From the N64 onward.

 

[Padawan of Windu]

Thank god. He is a wonderful, wonderful and joyful man who brings happiness to so many people. And he friggin programmed EarthBound!! Not to mention he brought us the Wii and DS, ya know, Nintendo's most successful systems EVER. I would never EVER want him to not be president. And it wouldn't make sense, as they were only 3 presidents before him for a period of over a hundred years. Long live Iwata, long live Nintendo!

 

[jett]

Wii U was conceived as a cash grab at the tablet audience. They recognized this was where the majority of Wii audience went, but they blew the execution. The software performance and support (number/variety of apps, games, and user experience) literally could not have been any worse (still is to this day), and the U pad looks and performs like a Fisher Price My First iPad next to real devices. They no doubt envisioned peddling cheap (to develop) mini-games (Angry Birds or P&D type shit) featuring Nintendo's Mascot characters for $20-$40 a pop to the Soccer Mom and Retirement Home Blue Ocean. They grossly underestimated the difficulty of developing a fully featured OS and online store/ecosystem, and just completely botched their entire plan from day 0.

That's the very simple truth. The worst thing is that some things could've been fixed since the first showing of the console. For instance fucking everyone could see the messaging issues before the name was even annoucned, and Nintendo did nothing to steer the course. They behaved in a ridiculously obtuse and stubborn manner. The Wii U name only compounded on the problem. Now this I most certainly blame entirely on Iwata.

An outside guy will probably change the company for the worse from a hardcore gamer's perspective, but Iwata definitely needs to go.

 

[mugwhump]

I say hooray. Better Iwata than some corporate suit who doesn't care about games.

Seriously, to all of you people saying IWATA NEEDS TO BE FIRED... why? From my perspective as a gamer, the Wii U bombing doesn't really affect me that much. It's the exact same machine the N64, GCN, and Wii were: a first-party machine with a small scattering of worthwhile third-party games.

 

[_underfooter]

Honestly, I've been a Nintendo fan my entire life and I want nothing more than to see Iwata gone. The geek in me likes seeing him in Nintendo Directs and Iwata Asks and stuff, but really the writing is all over the wall. Everyone sees it. Wii U was a bad choice. Everything from the initial software plans to the marketing are downright awful.

Step down Iwata. C'mon.

 

[jcm]

The gravy train point doesn't work when he's taken salary cuts.

He still makes a whole bunch of money.

To what extent was Iwata involved with the WiiU and/or 3DS ?

What's the term for the person who is the most involved in something? That's what he is. President, CEO, chairman of the board. There's no one at nintendo above him, and hasn't been for years.

 

[Mononoke]

Simply changing CEO won't neccessarily fix their problems.

Yes but getting new leadership in and working towards a long term fix can. It's a process. Keeping the leadership that is failing won't fix the problem either. Again, I do not get the mentality of these posts. I basically get this:

The company is in trouble. There is nothing anyone can do to fix it short therm. So let's just keep Iwata and the people that got Nintendo in this position in the first place. What else can we do? The Wii U is a failure that won't change.

OKAY, yes. You can't do anything in the short term. But why would you want these same people developing Nintendo's next phase as a company.

 

[Sendou]

Yes but getting new leadership in and working towards a long term fix can. It's a process. Keeping the leadership that is failing won't fix the problem either.

Why can't the existing leadership work towards a different long term goal?

 

[Timeaisis]

Here's hoping he pulls out all the stops. It'll be interesting to see the moves desperate Iwata makes. Nintendo will survive. This is more about the upper management staying on than anything else.

 

[CHC]

So if everyone likes this guy, who is the problem at Nintendo? Obviously the company is extremely stubborn, slow to act, and rooted in the past, but GAF seems to love Iwata. What or who exactly is the cockblock for them to catch the hell up on things and starting running their games company like it's 2014?

 

[Mononoke]

Why can't the existing leadership work towards a different long term goal?

Because they've already shown they aren't capable? How many chances are they going to give them?

 

[Forgottonone]

Because i don't subscribe to the exclusivity notion of games. Each game should be available on every platform a developer sees fit rather than making it exclusive because you're also selling the platform itself.

A future where Nintendo\Sony\MS first-party titles aren't beholden to one platform and are leased on several of them is desirable in my book. Under Iwata, Nintendo has come the closest to this 'breaking point' and is the most currently vulnerable out of the Big 3 to 'going 3rd party' so might as well 'see it through'. Although an immediate replacement might want to make swift changes, bringing that future closer, so that could work too.

Anyhow, i don't buy into the argument that their games quality will diminish without a platform to sell.

You really really should buy into that. The game quality would go sooo down from Latency filled mobile games to time constraints put onto them from Sony and MS. Nintendo needs their own platform to make Nintendo games. The other console manufacturers would be rushing Nintendo and forcing them to do very unnatural non nintendo things. So my friend, you are so wrong on that point.