Nintendo projecting a Annual Loss of $240M

[MushroomX]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...531dbe-7f88-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html

Nintendo’s painful quarter spells real trouble for company
By Hayley Tsukayama, Friday, January 17, 10:51 AM

Get jumping, Mario. Nintendo is in need of cash and another lease on life after reporting Friday that it has cut its sales estimates for several of its game systems and is projecting an annual loss of $240 million.

In a statement explaining the painful financial report, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that while sales of the company’s latest Wii U console “showed some progress” at the end of the year, the recovery was not enough. Nintendo originally projected that it would sell 9 million consoles between April 2013 and March 2014; now the company has cut that forecast to 2.8 million units. Projections for software sales were also cut — halved, in fact, to 19 million from 38 million.

The low sales are even more striking given that high demand for new consoles from Sony and Microsoft have sent the sales of video game hardware in December up 28 percent from the same period last year — the highest since December 2010. Sony boasted its console sold 4.2 million units, globally, in a little over a month; Microsoft reported global sales of 3 million Xbox One consoles in a similar period of time.

Perhaps most concerning for Nintendo, the sales slump wasn’t only for the Wii U console, which has struggled to gain a strong following since its introduction in 2012, but also for its handheld Nintendo 3DS and older Wii console. The company had to revise its estimates for the 3DS down to 13.5 million units from 18 million units. Projections for the Wii fell to 1.2 million from 2 million.

With all the bad news for the company, Iwata has said that the company will more seriously consider a “new business structure” and look at the expansion of gaming in the mobile world.

“Given the expansion of smart devices, we are naturally studying how smart devices can be used to grow the game-player business,” Iwata said, according to a report from Bloomberg. But, he cautioned, “It’s not as simple as enabling Mario to move on a smartphone.”

Nintendo games, particularly of late, would seem to translate well to mobile devices, however. The Wii U, while unpopular with gamers in the living room, does feature games designed specifically for its tablet-like controller — meaning that many of the games have already been conceptualized for smaller screens with touch capability. The same can be said for games for the 3DS and the 2DS, which also use some touch controls and are also designed for smartphone-sized screens.

Not only that, Nintendo’s classic games and characters, which are the lifeblood of the company, would also likely do well on mobile devices. Games from the early days of the video game world from companies such as Atari and Activision have found second lives on mobile devices, and Nintendo would certainly be able to leverage its nostalgia value with such a service.

Alternatively, the company could also look at making its older titles available digitally. That’s the tack Sony’s taken, having announced plans, at this year’s International CES, for a streaming service called PlayStation Now that gives players access to games from previous consoles.


© The Washington Post Company

 

[Crakface]

Just sell all your franchises to sony

They're worth 40 billion. Thats nothing to them. Nintendo is talking about going to mobile games. Those stockholders must not be playing around.

 

[Ed MOTHERFUCKING G]

They feel like WWF when they kept trying to cater to children in 1995 and 96 when the wrestling audience had aged beyond what it was producing...the only problem is stonecold steve austin and the nwo work for sony and microsoft...and theyre still making the same ol stuff....

It finally caught up with them. A lot of people felt duped with wii

 

[Kingshango]

Iwata is already thinking of changing their business structure

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/445870/nintendo-thinking-about-a-new-business-structure/

"We cannot continue a business without winning," Iwata said on Friday during a press conference attended by Bloomberg. "We must take a skeptical approach whether we can still simply make game players, offer them in the same way as in the past for 20,000 yen or 30,000 yen, and sell titles for a couple of thousand yen each.

"We are thinking about a new business structure," Iwata added. "Given the expansion of smart devices, we are naturally studying how smart devices can be used to grow the game-player business. It's not as simple as enabling Mario to move on a smartphone."

Investors and analysts have urged Nintendo to broaden its horizons and boost profits by embracing smartphones on multiple occasions over the past few years, but Iwata has always insisted that his responsibility is to plan for the long term, not simply to make a quick buck.

It's gonna get very interesting for Nintendo this year.

 

[Uncle_Ruckus]

I still love my Wii U and Super Mario 3D World! Play it every damn day.

 

[King Sun]

 

[Boolean]

If you spent $250-$300+ on a Wii U, you lost.

That being said, the 3DS XL is a thing of beauty.

 

[DPresidential]

Just sell all your franchises to sony

They're worth 40 billion. Thats nothing to them. Nintendo is talking about going to mobile games. Those stockholders must not be playing around.

fukk you.

MSFt consumers want that piff too.


Please go Softwar... PLEASE.

Imagine the new Zelda...running in 1080p....60fps.... on both systems...

 

[Kingshango]

fukk you.

MSFt consumers want that piff too.


Please go Softwar... PLEASE.

Imagine the new Zelda...running in 1080p....60fps.... on both systems...

Microsoft actually tried to buy Nintendo during the development of the OG Xbox.

But Yamauchi looked at them like and told Microsoft to suck his balls.


Or so the legend goes.

 

[wutang512]

Some game companies have to be humbled.... Sony was humbled last generation look what they did this time...

 

[Artificial Intelligence]

.......................

 

[Captain Crunch]

Sega and Nintendo merge to make a new console in 2021?
Launch titles can be Zelda and Virtua Fighter; then drop Sonic and Mario in subsequent years.

 

[Kingshango]

Sega and Nintendo merge to make a new console in 2021?
Launch titles can be Zelda and Virtua Fighter; then drop Sonic and Mario in subsequent years.

Plus they got Atlus and they love Nintendo. They also got that Fire Emblem X SMT(which we haven't learned shyt about in a year now) in development.

Persona of the next Nintendo system.

 

[tr2k]

Sega and Nintendo merge to make a new console in 2021?
Launch titles can be Zelda and Virtua Fighter; then drop Sonic and Mario in subsequent years.

Smash Bros in a Shenmue type world. Play all the OG Nintendo and Sega games at the arcade. Mario working at a warehouse or moving bricks

 

[Uncle_Ruckus]

Still got Mario Kart 8 on the way.