General Nintendo sales/business discussion topic (previously: The Wii U Thread)

[Red Cap]

Interesting. I dunno how long it takes to act on a patent though.

 

Indeed. I'm starting to wonder, are they gonna jump the gun and announce their next generation console/handheld/whatever-it's-gonna-be already? Feels like it's a little bit too early to release new hardware, but then again, the Wii U is struggling hard so... maybe?

[PSI Wind]

If they do, it'd be fucking suicide. Well, the console part anyways. I don't really see the 3DS going so soon though.

[Tornado]

The 3DS may not be selling DS Light numbers, but it's be no means doing badly and it's just a slightly altered design away from constantly selling out again. Make the screen a tiny bit bigger, slash the power usage so the battery life hits 6 hours or so and drop $20 off the price.

 

Even the fucking PSP had a huge upswing in sales when it went from this:

 

To this:

[Conando]

If it's a patent for anything, it's a patent for whatever said they were cooking up for 2017-18. I doubt they're going to announce it anytime soon, if they DO announce anything at the Direct it more than likely is another 3DS revision.

[Salamander]

"Playable on 2DS & 3DS & 4DS."  Hmm.  Not so sure, myself.  I'll put my chips down on either QOL or a 2DS revision.

[VO.SUPER]

These are the Amazon preorder ranks for Mario Kart 8 worldwide.

America: 4th

Canada: 4th

France: 1st

Germany: 4th

Italy: 2nd

Japan: 2nd

Spain: 1st

UK: 3rd

And the Wii u has definitely been steadily rising the ranks. It's now at 38 I believe. If anything, a game like Mario Kart is at least cushioning the blow. Like a serious car crash is turning to a fender-bender.

[Sami]

The Wii U install base is just large enough to make a Mario Kart game really successful, I think. The attach rate will probably be really high, so I don't think 3-4 million is out of the question even on an install base of roughly 7 million. I doubt it'll have any meaningful impact on console sales besides a temporary boost, though.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

The Wii U install base is just large enough to make a Mario Kart game really successful, I think. The attach rate will probably be really high, so I don't think 3-4 million is out of the question even on an install base of roughly 7 million. I doubt it'll have any meaningful impact on console sales besides a temporary boost, though.

I think Nintendo are hoping their year long advertising campaign will turn it into a permanent boost though, with it being heavily bolstered by SSB4 in november/october

[Doctor MK]

Nintendo has confirmed to CVG that there will be no new hardware at this year's E3

[Komodin]

Well, we probably saw this coming for a while now: Nintendo's reporting its third consecutive annual loss with a total operating loss of over $456 million.

[Sami]

Nintendo just released their full year financial report.

 

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir//pdf/2014/140507.pdf

 

It's in Japanese.

 

Key information:

 

Operating loss 46.4bn Yen, Net loss 23.2bn Yen.

 

Wii U at 6.17m shipped, forecast of 3.6m for the coming year. Q4 shipment of 0.31m. 2013/14 shipment, 2.72m vs 2.8m forecast

 

- Software at 32.28m, forecast of 20m for the coming year. 2013/14 software shipment, 18.86m vs 19m forecast

 

3DS at 43.33m shipped, forecast of 12m for the coming year. Q4 shipment of 0.59m. 2013/14 shipment, 12.24m vs 13.5m forecast

 

- Software at 162.92m, forecast of 67m for the coming year. 2013/14 software shipment, 67.89m vs 66m forecast

 

Cash and equivalents down from $4.7bn to $3.4bn, a drop of $1.3bn over the year.

 

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir//pdf/2014/140507e.pdf - English link.

 

 

 

Wii U Unit Sales (Unit: Million)

 

Hardware       Ap-Jn    Jl-Sp    Oc-Dc    Ja-Mr      FY      LTD

 

FY 2012/13       -        -      3.06     0.39      3.45     3.45

 

FY 2013/14     0.16     0.30     1.95      0.31        2.72     6.17

 

 

 

Software       Ap-Jn    Jl-Sp    Oc-Dc    Ja-Mr      FY      LTD

 

FY 2012/13       -        -      11.69    1.73      13.42    13.42   

 

FY 2013/14     1.03     5.27      9.66      2.9       18.86    32.28

 

 

3DS Unit Sales (Unit: Million)

 

 

 

Code:

Hardware       Ap-Jn    Jl-Sp    Oc-Dc    Ja-Mr      FY      LTD

 

FY 2010/11       -        -        -      3.61      3.61     3.61

 

FY 2011/12     0.71     2.36      8.36    2.10      13.53    17.13       

 

FY 2012/13     1.86     3.20      7.65    1.24      13.95    31.09

 

FY 2013/14     1.40     2.49      7.76        0.59     11.65    43.33

 

 

 

Software       Ap-Jn    Jl-Sp    Oc-Dc    Ja-Mr      FY      LTD

 

FY 2010/11      -        -         -      9.43      9.43     9.43

 

FY 2011/12     4.53     3.60     19.91    7.96      36.00    45.42    

 

FY 2012/13     7.39     11.64    20.53    10.05     49.61    95.03

 

FY 2013/14     11.01    16.37    29.87      10.64       67.89    162.92

 

 

Awful year. 3DS sales are down, Wii U is dead in the water, and they lost a ton of money. 

At least their new projection for Wii U this year seems doable, unlike last years ludicrous 9 million. I don't believe the 3DS is going to make its goal though.

 

edit - seems I was beaten to the punch, lol

[Dantemustdie00]

Yeah, I think Nintendo keeps setting their standards way too high, cause 9 million was already a bonkers agenda. 

[Sami]

If anyone still believes the "Nintendo can go several decades without making a profit and still be ok" nonsense (disregarding the fact that that's not how business works) -

 

The mythical warchest had roughly $11.5 billion in it in 2011. Today, it has roughly $7.8 billion. In the past three years alone they've lost nearly a third of it.

 

Don't worry though, I'm sure Iwata will make everything okay.

[SuperLink]

I don't think the 3DS will fail. If Nintendo are making a strong prediction for it even knowing they were short this time, then it means they have strong software or other things planned for it in the coming year. They've already confirmed (again) that the 3DS is going to be their focus going forward, with more strong software (I'm guessing another 2D Mario and more Pokémon, and others) that we haven't heard of yet being revealed in the near future.

 

Plus, perhaps another hardware revision or price drop. I'd like to see them hit the 3DS goal this time.

 

As for the "warchest", it's obvious they were losing a lot, but they're not going to be losing this much forever. The next year there's going to be a lot of damage control, their biggest priority now isn't becoming extremely successful on risks, it's minimising losses, which they'll probably do.

[Sami]

As for the "warchest", it's obvious they were losing a lot, but they're not going to be losing this much forever. The next year there's going to be a lot of damage control, their biggest priority now isn't becoming extremely successful on risks, it's minimising losses, which they'll probably do.

 

With the R&D, manufacturing, and distribution for a 3DS successor and QoL on the horizon? We probably won't see the 3DS successor in 2014, but it's surely under development right now. All the costs that come with R&D and game development for new hardware will still be present this year, even if they aren't explicitly labeled as such.

 

There's also the calls for a Wii U price drop, which will lose them even more money if they go through with it. 

 

I'll be surprised if they make a profit this year. I have no idea where that money will come from. Mario Kart and Smash are pretty much all they've got going for them this year. I doubt the losses will be as large as 2013's, though. 

[Tornado]

Okay. Enough is enough:

If anyone still believes the "Nintendo can go several decades without making a profit and still be ok" nonsense (disregarding the fact that that's not how business works) -

 

The mythical warchest had roughly $11.5 billion in it in 2011. Today, it has roughly $7.8 billion. In the past three years alone they've lost nearly a third of it.

 

Don't worry though, I'm sure Iwata will make everything okay.

 

No more of this passive aggressive bullshit. I don't care whether you feel you're vindicated or not.

[SuperLink]

I'll be surprised if they make a profit this year. I have no idea where that money will come from. Mario Kart and Smash are pretty much all they've got going for them this year. I doubt the losses will be as large as 2013's, though. 

There's almost nothing for 3DS on the horizon, and I'm 90% sure that's because they're saving it all for a huge chunk of E3 reveals. Nintendo are more and more not announcing games til they're mostly complete, I reckon the latter half of the year will be a fantastic one for 3DS launches, even if it seems completely empty right now.

 

If I'm wrong, then.. yeah, losses. Thing is, they wouldn't put confidence on 3DS for the next year if they didn't have a plan for it.

 

Also, I can't imagine QOL will be a hugely expensive endeavour.

[VO.SUPER]

Discoid I think you're overreacting with 3DS sales shrinking. Yeah it gone down, but not by much, and is still making great profit for Nintendo.

also Discoid; Iwata said he'd be putting the Warchest to use this year. It's possible that many of the reasons for the shrink have to do with hiring, the new R&D building, new merchandising deals and such. Stuff like this doesn't just shrink because of loss.

[Salamander]

Well, on the bright side, they only just missed their revised Wii U sales expectations (2.8m hardware sales predicted, 2.72m shipped; 19m software sales forecast, 18.86m shipped).  Not much of a bright side, but you have to take what you can get.  If they're able to more competently predict far more accurate sales figures, that must be some help in managing their resources and doing something about those sales figures.

 

As for the 3DS's comparatively slow sink, though, I don't know if there's actually much they can do for the 3DS that they haven't done already (price drop, game supply, killer apps, marketing, sales deals, etc.).  It's a handheld gaming console in a market that's been swept by gaming-capable smartphones with what I have to confess are some advantages over a dedicated console.  I don't know what Nintendo can do about a cultural shift in how people play games except to manage their place in that shift such that they can still cater to console enthusiasts.  The Wii U's problems are different and more numerous.

[Sami]

Discoid I think you're overreacting with 3DS sales shrinking. Yeah it gone down, but not by much, and is still making great profit for Nintendo.

also Discoid; Iwata said he'd be putting the Warchest to use this year. It's possible that many of the reasons for the shrink have to do with hiring, the new R&D building, new merchandising deals and such. Stuff like this doesn't just shrink because of loss.

 

Oh, the 3DS was not bad this year, no. But it certainly wasn't good either, and is declining much sooner than a console usually does. It's becoming clear that its lifespan is going to be a short one and at a time that the company absolutely needs something stable to bring in revenue while their other products are failing, the 3DS' current market standing does not bode well for them. 

 

In regards to the warchest thing, the vast majority of losses this year can be attributed to R&D, expansion, and buying back Yamauchi's shares of the company. It's a problem, though, because the money just isn't there to make these kinds of things happen. They're burning through their "life savings", so to speak, and it highlights their current vulnerability, and flies in the face of the theory that the warchest can keep them going for 30 years or whatever it was that that article mentioned. This obviously won't happen, but just think about it - at the current rate they've been going... six more years of this and they'll have burned through all of it. They're losing a lot of money.

 

And as an aside, I apologize to everyone for being a dick earlier. Shouldn't have phrased that the way I did and I guess I did admittedly feel vindicated a bit by having numbers to support what I've been saying forever. Sorry.

 

 

Well, on the bright side, they only just missed their revised Wii U sales expectations (2.8m hardware sales predicted, 2.72m shipped; 19m software sales forecast, 18.86m shipped).  Not much of a bright side, but you have to take what you can get.  If they're able to more competently predict far more accurate sales figures, that must be some help in managing their resources and doing something about those sales figures.

 

As for the 3DS's comparatively slow sink, though, I don't know if there's actually much they can do for the 3DS that they haven't done already (price drop, game supply, killer apps, marketing, sales deals, etc.).  It's a handheld gaming console in a market that's been swept by gaming-capable smartphones with what I have to confess are some advantages over a dedicated console.  I don't know what Nintendo can do about a cultural shift in how people play games except to manage their place in that shift such that they can still cater to console enthusiasts.  The Wii U's problems are different and more numerous.

 

I agree with all of this. I love handheld gaming (Vita in particular I'm very fond of), but I worry for its position in the market. I don't think a traditional Nintendo handheld 3DS successor could even dream of reaching some of the heights its predecessors did, and I don't think Sony's going to bother trying again at all. 

[PSI Wind]

So, the best option is to make a Console/Handheld Hybrid?

[MegasonicZX]

I probably wouldn't mind a console handheld type thing so long as the handheld portion of it isn't oversized and is still easy to carry around (in a clip on carry case).

[Sami]

Console/Handheld hybrid would most likely be way too expensive to really take off, honestly. It'd have to be expensive enough to have hardware capable of competing with the PS5 and Xbox2 or whatever they end up being called, plus have the cost of another piece of hardware for the handheld bit thrown on top of it. 

 

I liked the idea a lot before, and still think it is appealing on paper (I'd buy one), but I just don't think it's very practical at all.

[Willsy]

Nintendo are refusing to put same-sex relationships into Tomodachi Life:

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/05/07/nintendo-refuses-to-incorporate-gay-relationships-into-upcoming-video-game/

Nintendo has said it will not include same-sex relationships in its upcoming simulator game, Tomodachi Life, despite action from equality campaigners.

The gaming giant has said it will not bow to pressure to include gay relationships in the video game.

It comes after a social media campaign surfaced called #MiiQuality.

The campaign specifically fights for virtual equality within Tomodachi Life and urges Nintendo to include same-sex relationships in the game.

Originally released in Japan last year, the game features a cast of avatars based on real players living and playing on a virtual island.

Nintendo’s dismissal of same-sex relationships comes in the wake of greater virtual equality in the gaming world.

Recent games such as Mass Effect, Dragon Age and The Elder Scrolls have allowed players to create characters that can have same-sex relationships.

Nintendo of America Inc said to the Associated Press: “Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of ‘Tomodachi Life’.

“The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation. We hope that all of our fans will see that ‘Tomodachi Life’ was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary.”

In response to the #MiiQuality campaign, Nintendo said: “We have heard and thoughtfully considered all the responses. We will continue to listen and think about the feedback. We’re using this as an opportunity to better understand our consumers and their expectations of us at all levels of the organization.”

Tomodachi Life is expected to be released on 6 June, and will feature on the 3DS platform.

I'm disappointed...no...disgusted. There is absolutely no reason why they can't add same-sex marriage in, only that they don't want to. This is a perfectly good example of Nintendo being stuck in the past, not understanding the rest of the world, and being pretentious (not listening to the consumers). When fucking EA of all companies has gay characters in video games and embraces them, it puts Nintendo in a really bad light.

This is pretty much Nintendo nowadays, they refuse to cooperate with people outside of the company (http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/09/03/bethesda-nintendo-needs-better-support-for-third-party-devs)l whether it be consumers, other companies giving advice, or third parties. They have a very large following in the LGBT community too, so they're pretty much giving the middle finger to them (and me) here.

Considering I'm LGBT, I'm really upset by this. Way to go Nintendo. Don't expect me to buy this game unless you add the option for same sex relationships.

[PSI Wind]

Remember that Nintendo allowed you to, and even had the characters say good things about wearing clothes of the opposite sex in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Most likely, if there's another Tomodachi Life, it'll allow Same-sex relationships and even adoptions. The problem with the whole same-sex thing in the Japanese release was due to data corruption. 

 

it's pretty crappy and I hope Nintendo looks at this kind of option for another game in the series.