Forum - View topicNEWS: Nintendo's 1st-Ever Annual Loss Pegged at US$535 Million
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Majin Tenshi
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Hopefully that will make them make the 3DS region free now
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Banjo
Posts: 798 |
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they are expecting too much from Wii U, I don't it selling well
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GrilledEelHamatsu
 Posts: 703 |
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It has very poor Japanese 3rd party support and several large US 3rd party developers aren't yet ready to get on board with it. Also, with a tablet controller, you can expect the piece of junk to sell for $400-450 because the GOTDAMN thing will add to the costs of manufacturing the system. Nintendo should just invest more in 3DS. Its doing much better in sales now that VITA is selling poorly. They should also redesign 3DS with Smartphone features. |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Yeah, this is what I wonder about the Wii U. It seems like Nintendo is in a difficult spot. They're basically going to be selling something on par with the other systems and yet it will probably cost much more. It's only real advantage is this tablet controller but the bulk of the people who'd be interested by that are probably also the ones who'd be more inclined to choose a cheaper options. I mean, the Wii was novel but let's keep in mind that it also had the advantage of being less than half the price of other systems. Or, look at the 3DS. It really only started to move well once the price was slashed. |
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GrilledEelHamatsu
Posts: 703 |
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I know. Nintendo seems to be trying to recycle the Wii concept with Wii U. Except it'll be a much harder sell. I don't see Soccer Moms & Grandmas wanting to play Wii-Sports on a wonky,bulky tablet controller that looks like it'll be difficult to use. I think its fair to say ever since SEGA left the hardware business in 2001, Nintendo has done nothing but alienate hardcore gamers. Hopefully with SegaOrbi helping build SEGA back up as a hardware company, Nintendo's investors will wake up & abandon the piece of junk Wii U and develop a true next gen system in a few years. |
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faintsmile1992
 Posts: 295 Location: England |
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And the Wii motion control gimmick opened up new styles of gameplay, such as Wii Sports, as well as being intuitive as a substitute for a mouse to point and click. But lets be honest, the console didn't even come bundled with a gamepad. And the Wiimote sucks as a device for enjoying 'normal' games. Is it any surprise if developers and serious players abandoned the Wii to its awful mini game collections? Christ, as far as I know you still can't play a game without using the Wiimote because there's no autoplay option, meaning you might need two controllers out to play a game with just one of them. And its still a pain in the arse when the pointer goes off the screen - both are problems easily fixed in a firmware update but Ninty only care about stopping you playing your Japanese games on a Western console. |
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Mesonoxian Eve
Posts: 1858 |
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I tried digging for the article, but can't find it, but there was a developer who stated something to the effect if Nintendo had its act together and introduced the Wii in HD, it would have clearly beat out the competitors because it would have closed the gap between casual and hardcore gamers. The fact Nintendo intentionally targets a demographic with its consoles already has developers shrugging their shoulders, stating it's not a system they're interested in. Nintendo had the ability to boast a strong presence in the home console market because, and this, I think, is important, it had games to go with it. Now, yeah... as Konota says: "Sure, they're called games, but they're not really games." If one were to separate out the mind-numbing "carnival" games from the Wii's library, I'd be stunned if 50 titles existed. |
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Yeah, Nintendo has just tried far too hard to push gimmicks and cater to specific demographics that it seems to have backfired a bit. When the Wii first came out it was a huge thing and extremely popular, but as the gimmick wore away the system just didn't have the capabilities of the competitors, particularly when the price point dropped on the competing machines. The 3DS also presents itself as an example of Nintendo relying far too much on gimmicks to sell their hardware. I mean, sure, some of these work great and are true innovations, but the system still needs a solid foundation to remain relevant long-term.
Such baffling decisions do not surprise me in the end honestly. It reminds me of the N64 still latching on to the outdated cartridge concept which ultimately proved to be a huge bottleneck for an otherwise well made system. Then the mini-DVD's of the GameCube again bottlenecked the device, not to mention the technical limitations compared to the competition. Technical capabilities is huge in gaming these days and is only going to get huger, they can't rely on gimmicks to get sales alone anymore, they need to keep up. |
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ArsenicSteel
 Posts: 2370 |
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LOL@Nintends 1-st ever annual loss since 1981 and the peanut gallery is going on about how this proves Nintendo's gimmicks don't work.
Also the Wii's game library is the largest among the current gen consoles. It just doesn't have the same caliber of graphic intensive games but the demographic Nintendo went after, "sweet graphics" wasn't the prime selling point at the time. |
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Keonyn
Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Congrats on once again attempting to lower the tone of a discussion on a topic. You want to disagree with others then by all means do so and make your points, but you are still expected to do so respectfully as per the rules. Jumping on people for making a point you don't agree with, firing a shot their way and tossing labels doesn't accomplish this, particularly when you otherwise hardly bring any actual points to the discussion.
When a major player in an industry goes from safely profitable to taking a greather than half a billion dollar hit in the red the "peanut gallery" is more than justified in chiming in. This is particularly the case when the "peanut gallery" are the very consumers that these companies are trying to make their earnings off of. So this is how the consumers see the company and are why they maybe are or aren't purchasing the products. Don't agree with that? Then make your case and deal with it, but cut the condescending crap. |
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Saffire
 Posts: 1256 Location: Iowa, USA |
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I actually have to back ArsenicSteel on this one. People have been accusing Nintendo of leaning on gimmicks since the original DS, and they've pretty much always panned out while Nintendo made money hand over fist.
There's also a lot of ignored context going on. The console market is shrinking overall, and it's almost certainly going to continue on that course; predictions for the next console generation aren't good. The strength of the yen damaged a lot of international Japanese companies as well; I can't read the Nintendo report right now, but I remember Sony lost something like $300m on that alone. There's a lot going on in the market that you can't claim is Nintendo's fault, and maybe the losses would be minimal or non-existent in a better climate. |
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ArsenicSteel
Posts: 2370 |
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I just find it funny that so much doom and gloom is being tossed at Nintendo for their first annual loss when certain game divisions(Sony) has had similar losses, quarterly.
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Keonyn
Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Because Nintendo may not have posted losses, but they've been slumping for awhile now not only in earnings but significantly in market share and that trend is only increasing while their competition is remaining relatively stable. Sony's hit this year was also largely due to the hacking scandal they've dealt with this past year and the ongoing repercussions resulting from that, so it's not like Nintendo is the only one dealing with various external circumstances.
You're going to have to pardon the fact that people are growing tired of Nintendo's lagging hardware and reliance on gimmicks (some good, some not) to sell units. They did a great job with the Wii and the motion controls, but they should have seen the competition developing similar tech on superior systems was going to be a major threat, and they didn't. The Wii's lack of flexibility became a huge detractor not only for consumers, but for developers as well. You can't be a major player in this industry anymore by going for niche markets, so they can't afford to not care if their system doesn't live up to the competitions performance. The 3DS is a great example of a gimmick just not catching on to make it worthwhile, and the hardware gains just aren't there to warrant dipping again for a 3D screen that is, frankly, lacking. And the issue AS is that you didn't come in here to make counter points or challenge perceptions, you came in here specifically to fire shots at people who perceive the situation in a way you don't agree with. Counter the points and discuss them instead of just firing the "peanut gallery" label at them for daring to disagree with you and calling it a day. |
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Mesonoxian Eve
Posts: 1858 |
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I can see you don't read anything more than headlines in your life. With a few friends who work in the gaming industry, rest assured this issue isn't about "gimmicks", but developers having a difficult time trying to maximize their earning by catering to as many consoles with a single product they can. A feat which is very difficult to do unless the game is developed for the lowest-common denominator, which is the Wii (and soon, Wii U). You can believe graphics don't matter to people, but I'm still waiting for someone to walk up to me and say, "Dude, you need to be playing Skyrim. It's controls are [bleeping] awesome!" At any rate, rest assured I'm not harping on Nintendo for their losses, but one would have to be in denial not to have seen this coming. I still remember Reggie stating developers will return to Nintendo because the Wii will be the simplest console to develop for. I wonder what crow tastes like. |
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ArsenicSteel
Posts: 2370 |
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A single company can only maintain market share for so long before that share begins to erode either because competitors are adapting or because consumers are migrating. Hell, all the current gen sales are tapering off because this generation of consoles is coming to an end. 2 out of the three console makers are already discussing release info(gimmick, innovations, or whatever you want to call it) for their next system.
The Wii's lack of graphic power and controller issues made it hard on some developers and limited on what games could be made for the system. But looking at the game library and number of systems sold, that issue didn't harm the system's overall success. So sure some people are tired of how Nintendo does things but there are also people who are tired Sony's slow integration of successful gimmicks and Microsoft's defect prone hardware.
If Nintendo isn't a major player in the gaming industry then I don't know who is. The gaming industry seems to be growing in terms of hardware sales but the industry is still a niche.
Sorry I am only trying to discuss the woes of hardware manufactures. As far as only reading headlines, Nintendo stated that the reasons for this loss were primarily because of below-cost prices of the Wii and 3DS along with less than favorable exchange rates. Gimmicks and developer profit margins didn't make it into the report. |
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