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Nintendo Quarterly Profits Down 80%
mybrainonfire writes "1UP is reporting that Nintendo had a 78.5% reduction in operating profits for the quarter. 'Speculation from the news service on the reason for the drop makes perfect sense - the GameCube doesn't have enough exclusives, first-party and third-party, and sales of GBA SP and GameCube have been declining.' Time to release more Pokemon games, stat!"
Alright guys, which one of you didn't buy a gamecube?
There is truth in humor.
I am protected.
I think this is a sign that Nintendo will die out as a console manufacturer. I think they should stick to what they're good at: handhelds and software.
At least my Pokemon cards will be worth something in the future.
going out of business in 3....2...1...
Nah, it's just that children the world over have rediscovered the pleasures of the great outdoors, of playing in the street and exploring the neighbourhood. They'd rather play in the real world than a virtual one. oh... wait...
Drag n' Drop DVD Recommendations
Everyone can tell it's just Luigi in a red outfit.
..but how did the other guys do?
If this is comparable or better to the other guys' performance...
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?st ory=6051
re Shacknews: "Gamasutra points out that while Nintendo is suffering from reduced profits, neither Sony nor Microsoft's Xbox division are currently making any profit."
Unfortunately, the next major Pokemon release (Pokemon Diamond and Pearl) isn't due until early 2006 in Japan, and if they follow the same pattern in the US that they have done with earlier Pokemon releases, we won't see it in the US until at least the fall of 2006.
I personally like the Game Boy because of the Pokemon games (I still like Pokemon), and the Game Cube and Nintendo DS sounds nice, but the release of Sony's PSP and the upcoming release of the XBox 360 and Playstation 3 seem to be eating Nintendo's lunch right now, and those consoles aren't even out yet. Nintendo, on the other hand, isn't coming out with their new-generation console for at least another year.
I just hope Netcraft isn't confirming anything yet.
I love nintendo and this is very sad, but come on nintendo get with it! Market games and your console towards adults and you will get a much much much bigger fan base. We are the ones that played Nintendo when we were kids, we are older now and we want more mature games. We are not 6 years old any more nintendo!!! And 6 year olds do not have money, 24 year olds have money....
keanmarine.com
...and they said the Harry Potter books would be a good thing. Now he's gone and killed Nintendo! Noooooo... damn you, Harry!!!
Everybody think of the children, they said.
Read more books they should, they said.
Learn how to speak english proper, they said.
Are ya happy now? Well... ARE YA!?!?!
Perhaps it would be appropriate for someone to point out that Sony and Microsoft's gaming divisions have both reported net losses this quarter. Nintendo still profited, just not as much as it expected, and they remain more profitable overall than any other gaming division. Of course, you'll never see that in any gaming publication. It's all about how Nintendo is constantly doomed. Yeah right.
From the article:
"Still, the company's performing far better than its competition. Sony and Microsoft stand to suffer ridiculous losses as next-generation moves into full swing, whereas Nintendo's likely to continue operating in the black, simply receiving less profit than before, rather than none at all."
Also, isn't it possible they simply aren't having as much profit because they are spending money on development of the new console, etc?
Some profit is better than no profit.
According ot the article, N's profits are down, but they are still operating in the black. Seems that when they're operating at 80% profit less, they still do OK.
They just haven't had a blockbuster game recently.
Even still, unless Nintendo don't do something, they'll fall by the wayside like SEGA did.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Comment removed based on user account deletion
But far be it from anyone in the word of investor driven "growth at any cost" to acknowledge that fact.
They're still in the black, they're still making a profit, they're not going out of business.
He tried to kill me with a forklift!
If you look for some hard numbers, it means that Nintendo only got about 3.75 billion yen in profit this quarter.
Sony's also annouced results today. Their game division finished the quarter with an operating loss of 5.9 billion yen. I don't know about Microsoft game division but I'm pretty sure they're not making money.
Nintendo execs. might not be dancing back in the boardroom, but I think they're happier than Sony and Microsoft.
Nintendo is not a division of an extremely successful multinational corporation: it is a multinational corporation. There is nothing to support it if it fails to show a profit.
We're worried about [i]PC[/i] gaming dying? It'll be the consoles that falter if these wonderful earnings keep up. "But Microsoft has millions of dollars, they'll never go bankrupt!" No, but nor will they keep a gaming division going that is continually in the red. It's bad business. Same goes for the other console manufacturers.
Some content is better than no content.
The drop in sales must be due to.... piracy... oh, wait..
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Perhaps Nintendo will just keep making a little bit of profit for the next ten years, while Sony and MS's debt grows and grows and eventually devours them? Oh wait, that's right...M$ made $38 billion last year even with the hardware loss :(
...still might happen to Sony though. Prepare for the Nintendo comeback in 2015!!!
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
So your saying that Nintendo's small amount of content is better than the crap on the other systems? lol...sorry, couldn't help it ;)
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
The previous quarter? A year ago? Ten years ago? When speaking of relative changes, without the original baseline, the figures are meaningless.
It isn't in TFA, it isn't in the posting. So it comes across like a beg for pity and/or purchases.
Sega Genesis has "Blast Processing" and Super Nintendo don't... Welcome To The Next Level, Nintendo! Hahahah!
A lot of people I know skipped out on buying a Gamecube simply because it was damn near impossible to pirate the games. IMO, you want an early success for your console? Let the games be copyable. Yeah, it'll hurt sales to begin with, but its probably the best way to stir up some interest (not to mention building up some trust among gamers) early on. If the games are good enough, most people will end up buying them anyway. You want an example, just look at the GC's current competition.
I do own a gamecube with Mario kart (I bought it for Mario Kart (-: ), no other games. I believe the games for console seem to stay behind by PC games.
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
Twilight Princess.
:)
Let's see who wins this Christmas, shall we?
I also predict a lot of people will buy the Game Boy Micro when it arrives. And there's still Nintendogs for the DS.
The Tlog - a technology blog
More half ass stuff from 1up.They post what they want,so they can bash who they want.
0 5/07/28/ap2162457.html
0 5/07/22/ap2152617.html
Sony=52Million in the Red
"Sony's game unit, which makes the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable gaming consoles, saw a 64 percent sales increase to 105.4 billion yen ($941.1 million). But the division also booked a 5.9 billion yen ($52.7 million) operating loss due to marketing and research expenses. That loss widened from 2.9 billion yen the previous year.
Shipments of the PSP, which went on sale late last year in Japan and earlier this year in the United States, totaled 2.09 million worldwide, while PS2 sales rose nearly fivefold to 3.53 million units. "
http://www.forbes.com/associatedpress/feeds/ap/20
Microsoft=178 Million in the red..
"A 22 percent spike in Xbox sales narrowed the company's losses in its home and entertainment division to $179 million, compared to $340 million a year ago.
"I think that, to some degree, validates Microsoft's business model in getting into the console space in the first place," Rosoff said. "Microsoft is selling more games and fewer consoles, and that's really the business model. They acknowledged it would be expensive to get a foothold in the market."
http://www.forbes.com/associatedpress/feeds/ap/20
Nintendo=In the black with a thing called PROFIT
Read there returns here.
http://www.nintendo.com/corp/annual_report.jsp
Nintendo is not going to be closing up anytime soon.They have made a big profit in seven of the past 8 quarters.Barly red in the 8 to make any diff for the year, which was deep into the black.
Sony has been hit and miss.There game part of there company has been one of the few things making any money, even tho they have to sell 2-3 times as much as nintendo to make even close to same profit.
Microsoft has only had one quater of profit sense the xbox has come out, if it wasn't because they have a big company to back it up, it would have been canned a long time ago.
I'm a typical Nintendo fanboy in the sense that I had my DS imported from the US when it came out (I live in the EU), got Mario64 with it and later a couple more games. But I'm afraid to say that I've actually been playing with my GBA SP again lately.
The DS is just too big, the games suck (Mario64 is a brilliant game, which is why I played it to pieces back on the N64 and can't be bothered with it anymore) and the whole stylus/microphone/multiscreen-stuff is just a joke.
The reason this console came out the way it did is obvious to me: Nintendo saw the PSP coming and decided to dump another handheld on the market before it would arrive (at least outside Japan) so that kids could get that one from their parents and get a "you already have a DS!" from their parents when the PSP came out.
Everything about it smells of this: two screens instead of one. Better gameplay? Nope, quicker to make, less risk, lower production cost (to make it extra enticing as a PSP alternative), microphones and stylus? Again low-cost short-term appeal crap hidden behind "innovation".
Back when Nintendo and Sega were kings of the console world it was Nintendo that held back their new stuff confident that quality would win in the end. Unfortunately, these days it's Nintendo that tries to gain the first mover advantage. So effectively they've become the new Sega. Anyone remember what happened to their console business?
till Netcraft confirms it.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
From a far more informing Gamespot article here
"It also can't be understated that Nintendo saw a profit in its last quarter. By comparison, Sony Computer Entertainment today reported a quarterly loss of 5.9 billion yen ($52.6 million). Last week, Microsoft's Home and Entertainment division, which makes the Xbox, said it lost $179 million during its last quarter.
I'd take a profit over a loss any day of the week. It's also the first time Sony has ever had two back-to-back losses.
Neither do Sony or MS have issues with releasing adult titles for their console. If Nintendo had the luxury of a killer console it might be in a position to hold to its principles. But it isn't. The GC is trounced by the PS2 & XBox both in hardware and in the sheer range of games. On the handheld market, the DS is still winning (just) in terms of sales to the superior PSP but it doesn't look like it's going to prevail.
It's hard to see how Nintendo can possibly survive as a console maker unless their next platform is pretty fucking spectacular and they loosen up what they're prepared to allow their box to run. If not, they'll go the same way as Sega - reduced to making Mario & Pokemon games for the PS & XBox.
I wonder if one of the console makers shouldn't allow "homebrew" software onto their consoles. Geeks might not represent much of the market, but I reckon that it could easily swing an extra 1-2% of sales. How to do that without opening the door to piracy? Produce 2 tiers of authentication for games (& apps). The first tier is for normal games who access to all the functionality of the console. The second tier is for homebrew, who are restricted in certain ways, e.g. having to run from CDR, not being able to access online gaming portal, not being able to render more than so many polygons etc. It means that someone couldn't use pirate a game and sign it as homebrew because it would stop working, but the homebrew guys could help promote the console by producing some nice stuff for it - jukeboxes, browsers etc.
...are the problem Nintendo has. Seriously.
:/
I'm not a fan of any of their money-spinning franchises. I don't really like Mario since it went 3D. Never really liked Zelda. I don't "get" Metroid, I can recognise some of its goodness, but I don't enjoy it. Even their few exclusives don't really float my boat (Resident Evil? No thanks!).
Whether good or bad, PS2 has the breadth and depth of range that the Gamecube could only dream of. Whether you like sports games, driving games, beat 'em ups, survival horrors, shooters, or even just strange things you won't find on another console (just look at EyeToy and SingStar, all you people who say only Nintendo innovate!), you'll find at least 2 or 3 possible purchases. Maybe only one will be good, who knows. But the point is, there's a wide choice.
Xbox gets more ports, I think. That's just a gut call by the way, I haven't checked it out in terms of titles, but certainly it seems that way to me as a slightly interested observer. The ports are usually enhanced in some way (almost always graphically at least, but things like multiplayer Tenchu for instance).
And what does Gamecube have for me? Well, I do own one. And I own one game. It was made by Sega, and it is Super Monkey Ball. I looked in my local games shop a few weeks ago for something to buy, and the only thing that I considered was Super Monkey Ball 2.
Ah well. Maybe Revolution will have more for general gamers like me...
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Are Sony and Microsoft in the red because they are losing money on Xbox and PS2? Or is it because they're financing development and production of their next generation hardware and software? I personally see more innovation on Microsoft and Sony's part over Nintendo on next generation consoles (I hear Revolution isn't even going HD), and if indeed the losses are due to R&D, then perhaps Sony and Microsoft's losses aren't as bad as the article makes it seem.
Did they do any serious research on how much their choice of cartridge over cd-rom, and that mini-cd-thingy over DVD have cost them?
....
I think they repeated the same mistake, in a market full with gurus
They fought piracy and they lost, obviously. Yes I think Sony won a lot, by leaving a small space for piracy.
Many people I know, bought several pirated CDs, and few original. Yet they bought nothing of Nintendo.
Just release another Smash Bros for the GC
Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!
"Unlike either Sony or Microsoft, Nintendo does not have enormous financial backing from other divisions which can offset losses."
Well, if they go out of business, doesn't that set up a perfect anti-trust trial, in this case, against both? If you purposefully sell something at a loss simply to kill competition?
I mean, this isn't like the Windows with IE and bundling. We're talking about flat out sales of valuable systems at big loses.
I project that when those two cases are settled, probably 10 years from now (they'll file in 5), Nintendo will have probably made more money from Sony and MS than they ever did competing against them. Who knows, maybe they will do better than Netscape in terms of real results (breakup).
I8-D
Dear Nintendo...
I hate to say it, but I've seen this coming for a long time. Don't expect this to be a "blip"; if you don't change your ideas pretty fast, the word "profit" will soon be a distant memory. That said, it's not too late for you to turn things around. Here's what you need to do:
First, admit you've made mistakes. Not just little mistakes, but huge stonking big ones. Sticking with cartridges for the N64 was a mistake. Neglecting online gaming for the Gamecube was a huge mistake. Treating the European market like dirt was a mistake. Relying so heavily on first-party titles was a mistake. Pretty much every announcement you've made about the Revolution to date has been an expensive mistake (more on this later). Now, I don't expect you to come out and say this in public; that's not how business works. What you do need to do, though, is show through your actions that you've understood this. A few changes to your board might be a good place to start.
Now, once you've acknowledged you've made mistakes, the next thing to do is start rectifying them. First of all, for the love of god, stop dictating to the gaming public and start listening. Next time one of your people comes out and tells the world that "THIS is what gamers really want", sack them. Let's face it, it's not 1992 any more. You're not the industry leader any more and you can't drive through changes in gaming culture any more. I'm not saying you need to stop trying to do new things, but I am saying that you need to let the public and the market realities inform the framework within which you do them. There's a difference between "Innovation" and "Insisting building cars with square wheels". Learn it. Look at what gamers are buying and respond accordingly. You don't have to move exclusively into "mature" games, but you sure as hell need to diversify from what you're doing right now. Hate to break it to you, but Mario, Zelda and their ilk just don't have the brand strength they used to.
Next, realise that it's not just the public you need to listen to, but the wider industry as well. You've demonstrated a high-handed superior attitude towards third party developers for way too long. This needs to stop. They don't need you any more, but you sure as hell need them. So get down on your knees and crawl to them. Swallow that famed Nintendo pride before it does you any more damage. Find out what they want from the next gen consoles and then act on it. What you've said about the Revolution so far has been a disaster on this front. Cross-party developers don't want to be in a situation where they have to redesign games for release on your system because you've insisted on using a new control system, just because it fit what you wanted to do with a few first party games. Tell them they've got to do that and they just won't bother with you. By all means, bring out your new controller, but make it very clear, right now, that the Revolution will also ship with a dualshock-alike. Treat your third parties right and some of them will come back to you.
Next, cut the fanboys out of the loop. You've basically got a similar problem to Apple here. A minority, but a *significant* minority, of your hardcore fanbase is a walking PR disaster area. They're arrogant, spiteful and incredibly sensitive to criticism. They make a mockery of the slashdot games moderation system. They're the worst possible advert for your company. Now, you can't come right out in public and tell them to get lost... again, that's not how business works. But you can make it clear that they're no longer in the loop. Stop pandering to them in press-releases and at trade shows. These people will be giving you exactly the wrong messages. They'll be saying "OMG DON'T CHANGE!!!". All they care about is getting their next Mario or Zelda fix. Listening to them might make you feel good, but it's a recipe for disaster.
You see, what some of these people will tell you is that it's possible for you to survive as a niche player. That you don't have to play to the mainstream. This
Remember their past - it's no different than their future. It's strengths are:
- Low cost on console / handheld tech
- LOTS of cool intellectual property like Mario and Pokemon
- Appeals to younger kids who don't yet get all the killing and bloodfests competitor consoles push.
My son is 7 years old. Given the choice of consoles he is always going back to either the Gamecube in the den or his SNES (yeah, used to be mine) in his room. He needs games that require little or no reading ability and have a 'fun factor' like Mario Sunshine / World.
As long as Nintendo stays the course, parents like me will continue to choose them for their children. The Revoution - Nintendo's next console - is going to make a big deal about repackaging their older, still enjoyable, games. First person shooters and complicated racing/RPG/strategy games are out of the equation for my little boy at this stage.
Can't wait for Mario DDR on the GC!
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
Didn't know that. Must get a GC now, moving up from the gameboy
When I first heard what the DS was (remember, it was a secretive thing for a while, much like the revolution is now) it just brought back into my mind this two-screen kick Nintendo has been on for several years. Its a cool idea, definetely, two screens to work with, one dedicated to stats, the other to gameplay. Or a screen to keep to yourself, whatever.
Thing is though, Nintendo has never gotten it to take off, they had wanted to do it with the N64, but never got around to it. Did it with the GBA and Gamecube, but it was rarely used, even with Square giving them a Final Fantasy to promote it! Sure, it wasnt a numbered FF, but its the thought that counts.
Point is, they've wanted to do this for a while, I think we can all see the benefits of it. And so far, the DS has been Nintendos best attempt at getting the two-screen style going. Still though, there is a lack of interest. For whatever reason, good games are passing on the DS, at least for now.
Nintendo made my first video game console, and hopefully they'll make my last, but to reiterate what everyone else has said, they need to change to make it happen. Not just being different either. I say go ahead and imitate your competitor's best Nintendo, Lord knows they've imitated you. But once you've done that, improve on it in that classic Nintendo style, and you'll be console king once more!
That said though, those PSPs are far too fragile feeling to really make them that portible. Hell, I'm more comfortable carrying my iPod with me, and it cost twice as much!!! (40GB 3rd Gen, btw)
It's the games ... stupid.
Too many kiddies games, and not enough games overall.
_
\\/ are accustomed' - First Lensman
The other 'divisions' at Sony aren't 'supporting' it either. This is their second consecutive loss in a row, and it's actually their electronics division that is waning. source
Stern Electronics is probably the best example I could give to refute those who think profitability is so bad.
Stern are the only remaining pinball manufacturers in the world. Midway/Williams, Gottlieb, Sega, Atari, you name it - all gone.
How did Stern survive? Well, they never were into the glitsy uber-electronic versions of pinball that Midway and Sega were killing themselves over. They simply did a simple thing: made FUN pinballs modestly.
Eventually, their competitors priced themselves out of the market or found more profitable venues (Midway's arcade division produces gambling machines). With Sony and Microsoft not even close to breaking even after all this time, you know the next generation will be even worse for them. The PS3 is practically a supercomputer in console form, and the 360 will be more powerful than just about any PC you can put together.
The ultimate question is: will they EVER turn a profit? I don't believe they will and in the meantime, Nintendo may experience a loss in sales to older, more demanding gamers, but they will continue to sail on through and IN THE BLACK.
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
I'm tired of people passing off the gamecube as a kids toy, without having played some of the titles on it. Ikaruga comes to mind, if you think that a 7 year old could rock that game, you're wrong. Is Hitman 2: Silent Assassin a childs game? Nope. The number of excellent adult titles on Gamecube are substantial, more games than I can afford anyway. And even without these less well known games, the Metroid Prime series are excellent games.
If you think that Gamecube is a platform for kiddie titles, go blow someones head off and shred their body with an SMG in Hitman 2, and come back and apologize.
Also, someone in this thread said that Nintendo should stick with what their good at, handhelds. This is ridiculous. Might I remind you that the NES and Super NES are still excellent consoles, especially the Super NES.
That having been said, I also own a PSX and a Dreamcast, and will definitely be buying a Revolution.
That having been said, I really with a metal slug collection would come out for gamecube or revolution with all the games included.
Time to release more Pokemon games, stat!
Please STFU. Pokemon RPGs are a lot more indepth then people give them credit for. Each pokemon stats wise have hundreds of varients and tactics, far more then the latest FF menu slogging interactive movie.
When you can tell me what EV, IVs and base stats are relating to pokemon and I might listen to you're opinion. Untill then you're taking cheap shots at a fantastic RPG series which happens to be easy enough to pick up and play it's marketed to kids.
I like muppets.
Nintendo has been leveraging its designers skills, attention to playability, focusing on pure fun VS cutting edge tech for a long time now. This was working in their favor but the other players kept throwing cool/hot technology at the fight until even playability itself seemed less important than slick graphics and multiplayerability elements.
Unless Revolution turns out to be the revolutionary device they expect us to believe it is, Nintendo will not be able to sustain its declining market share, until Nintendo will be no more.
Technology ramblings : Simple is Beautiful
I only hope it's not long before I get to give this speech about Wintendo as well.
I don't think it was so much the console that's doing bad as it is the games. I mean two games is all it takes to equal the purchase of a GameCube, and Ninty really wasn't showing much in that field. Just recently they released their first party baseball and soccer games, so that'll probably help next quarter's sales. But I think I should point out that this (last quarter) is NEVER a good quarter for ANY game company. Wait 'til fall.
As an owner of all three consoles and reasonably frequent game buyer (1 or 2 a month), I like the choice of being able to pick the best game on whatever platform... unfortunately when games come out on multiple platforms the GC always seems to be the more expensive version, and I'd be a fool to pick it after spending money on all the consoles just so I can get the best value :-) So for Price of Persia, XIII and more recently killer7, I went for the PS2 versions because, well, it they were all about £8 cheaper than the equivalent Gamecube edition.
:-)
Does Nintendo not see the value in paring down their costs for non-exclusive titles, just so that their GC owners (and fans of their exclusives, Zelda, Mario, Pikmin etc.) can build up a library on their platform? As it stands I really don't own many GC games, but I do appreciate the big N's higher quality control (loading times? what loading times?) and would like to enjoy it a bit more often.
Mind you, this is all from a cheapass who's bought maybe 4 games in the last 4 years actually *new*, and all the rest second hand
Matthew @ Bytemark Hosting
this is just another ripple from the great worldwide economic collapse we are all watching in slow motion.
the old rich not-so-technically-inclined fat bastards have trumped you. enjoy servitude.
Let's face it, Nintendo applied the "we'll give consoles at a loss, and overcharge for games" model long before Sony or MS were anywhere near interested in consoles at all.
/. booing MS and cheering a far worse monopolist.
So Nintendo's case in an anti-trust lawsuit would be... what? "Your honour, they did the _exact_ same thing we did, but took a bigger loss"? I think the judge would have to call a recess just to stop laughing.
Plus, it's sorta ironic, that what goes around comes around. And I don't just mean dumping prices on hardware. Nintendo, for all its other merits, was a far nastier monopolist than MS when it was at the top.
Anyone else remember the exclusivity contracts they made developpers sign? No, I don't mean the _nice_ MS way of "we'll give you a big wad of cash if you give one exclusivity on this one game for a year." Nosiree, bob. Nintendo's version was more like signing yourself into exclusive serfdom, for life. Sorta "we're the Big N, we're King. If you want to be allowed to develop for our console, you worthless insignifficant peon, sign there that you're not allowed to _ever_ publish _any_ game for any other system."
Took some desperate lawsuits to get that crap declared illegal.
Remember the anti-competitive behaviour in Europe? Yeah, Nintendo got convicted and fined as a monopolist over here. Not only that, but they cheerfully continued doing it during the trial, on the explicit assumption that they'll make more money out of it than the EU can fine them. Much to their surprise, the EU had a nastier bite than Nintendo estimated. But still, it's the kind of "we know we're breaking the law, but you can't stop us" behaviour that we condemn Microsoft for.
So I find it sorta strange to see much the same gang on
Either way, I'd find it bloody hillarious if Nintendo filed an anti-trust lawsuit. It would be like seeing Microsoft filing anti-trust against someone. _That_ surrealistic.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
This would be indeed news. Does the humankind performs better?
Are there less idiotic people ? Do parents imply more in their child education, instead of buying a Nintendo just to be left alone?
There may be a link between how much time we spend playing computer games and our kindness, I believe
But that's off topic, anyway.
Curiously enough, the most "mature" - in terms of scary, frenzy and splatterhackfesty - games I know are from the Resident Evil series on Nintendo GameCube. I recall they've even got some exclusives in that. No? :-) .
Anyway, it's tough to get any more "mature" than that. Play that time of game longer than 5 minutes and you get an heart attack. No thanks, I'll stick with Viewtyfull Joe, that's just enough exitement for me
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Easily copiable game isn't enough.
You also need good marketing.
Sony Playstation : Easily copied CD-R + Good marketing - was a sucess.
Microsoft X-Box : Copiable and Backup-to-disk games + Complete marketing invasion - was a success
Sega DreamCast : Games copiable out-of-the-box (not even needed to mod-chip the unit, just burn'n'play) but almost invisible marketing - was not as successful as concurrence, mostly because the developper listened to the PS2 hype and stoped producing DC titles and waited for PS2.
On the other hand, with such an easy burn'n'play + good general purpose accessories (mouse + keyboard), DreamCast is having a very good afterlife with a lot of homebrew games/softwares developped.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
AFAIAK the BIG-N are still sitting around on a substantial pile of cash (billions)... i think they should've bought Sega when they had the chance but what do I know!
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
I have owned most the consoles over the past 20 years, so not a fanboy of anyone in particular. But I have had more fun gaming in my past 4 months of GC and 6 months of GBA owning than I have done in the past 3 years of PS2 owning. Its not the quantity of games, it really is the quality, and I think this is where Nintendo excel.
We are not 6 years old any more nintendo!!! And 6 year olds do not have money, 24 year olds have money
No, 24 year olds don't have money. 30-50 year olds have money. And we decide which games our 6 year olds buy. We get the ones that are fun and age appropriate. And Pokemon rules.
SONY, the Japanese electronics company, stunned investors yesterday with a dramatic cut to its earnings forecast and its first back-to-back quarterly loss in four years.
Full text here
It's so funny watching the console fanboys fight. They seem to forget that these are just companies we're talking about, not tribes.
This is a competitive free market: if company A does well, it spurs company B to do better, and all consumers gain, irrespective of whether they own a console from company A or B.
More expansive article here If you read the article, it tells you "80% decline," but that's a lie. If you actually do the math, a 3.75 billion yen decline to 13.72 billion yen of operating profit is obviously not an 80% decline, and in fact what actually happened is a decline TO 80%. Likewise, they had a 14% drop in sales, netting 70.7 billion yen.
Now, let's look at Sony and Microsoft's numbers (linked article last paragraph). Microsoft lost more money than Nintendo made in profit. Sony lost about a third as much as Microsoft, but they're still in the red! Where's the front page "Sony's losing money! So's Microsoft!" articles?!
Good lord, no wonder why everyone thinks Nintendo's doomed: the media has it out for them! Why didn't they report on Sony or Microsoft's losses, let alone why didn't they check their numbers/headline/article before posting it?! Seriously, Nintendo has an uphill battle next generation, and it's mostly because the media puts them in a bad light like this.
I think you've hit it on the head.
Nintendo has lost ground because it's being perceived as a 'kids' console. While that's not a bad thing, you are not going to capture the midlevel market who buys more games and sustains your platform.
Lego Star Wars has been a huge hit right in Nintendo's sweet spot and they didn't even release the game on GameCube.
'Revolution' has that Sega 'DreamCast' stink all over it. sad.
Nintendo is not a division of an extremely successful multinational corporation: it is a multinational corporation. There is nothing to support it if it fails to show a profit.
WRONG, that doesn't affect anything. Although they don't have any other divisions to rely on, they have owners, probably mostly institutional investors where they are part of a portfolio. The chances that a company will keep on feeding a currently loosing division in hopes about it turning a profit later on is about the same as long-term investor keep feeding a currently loosing company in their portfolio. It's exactly the same kind of risk/gain calculations behind the decision in both cases. Besides, I'm sure Nintendo have savings to keep them going for quite a while without a profit anyway.
In fact, I would say that Nintendo is better of than Microsoft's X-Box Division in this case since Nintendo is concentrating on one thing and has a track-record of succeeding in their business over and over again. Their shareholders believe in Nintendo as a game company and have invested in them as such.
Microsoft on the other hand has so far only lost money in the gameconsole arena and because of their widely diversified business areas, they likely have many shareholders who rather would have them scrap the X-Box division and focus more energy on other areas which they believe in.
Not only do the "editors" post advertisement after advertisement, but now we have to deal with borderline inflammatory fanboy/troll stories too? I'm going to have to guess that when a story gets posted about SCE actually losing money last quarter, it will be in the Games section and not on the front page (assuming it gets posted at all). mybrainonfire indeed.
I am sick and tired of Nintendo blowing customers off.
I've bought every Nintendo known to man, basically because in the beginning - there was a lot of really good long-term games worth playing. It was "oldschool" gameplay...and it was more entertaining than just the graphics alone
But Nintendo has a sucky policy...and unfortunately for both us and them...they never changed their old and stuck-up ways of playing things safe. Always making sure there wasn't enough to go-around just to keep customers wanting it more and more....they still do that today, but in todays competitive markets - doing this is suicide.
I bought the DS when it came out - Mistake!
Why is it a mistake? Well - ask DS owners like myself. Now my DS is collecting dust.
Nintendo raped their customers by making a re-release of Mario-64 with some added bonus games (only part worth playing)
Secondly...they release a bunch of crap games that I wouldn't even buy in a discount store.
Third...time passes and nothing happens. Nintendo is carefully screening and releasing games according to their old "slow-wait-until-all-crap-is-sold" and "limit-that-country!"
My next handheld won't be a Nintendo. Thats for sure.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
Nintendo dont exist to make games that slashdotters like, they are in it for profit, and unlike Sony and Microsoft they are doing very nicely for themselves.
Master Chief might have cool weapons but Mario has the bean counters on his side and he wont be going away any time soon.
They said it not me... ??
:) and thats without looking into the Sony figures..
http://theinquirer.net/?article=24988
Interesting figures though -- things dont seem so bad now
To note another few companies the inq shows: Activision made a loss this quarter too -- it would appear that Q1 is always a bad year for VGs ?
Source: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/mar20 05/sb20050331_4850_sb040.htm
While I'm no expert on the subject, I'm afraid I'm going to have to challenge you on a fact or two....
Stern Electronics, the 80s manufacturer of arcade games (including some pinballs), is not the same thing as Stern Pinball, although Gary Stern was involved with each of them. Stern Pinball is what used to be Sega Pinball, and before that, Data East Pinball. It's a pinball division that's changed hands, and been renamed, a few times. It doesn't make sense to say that they've "survived" all this time; only recently have they become an independent company, bought off Sega by Gary Stern (who had been an employee).
Stern Pinball, in whatever form, has never known for making the best tables. When Williams (who also owned Bally) was in the market, they were king. When they left the market, dismantling their pinball division and firing several star designers including Pat Lawlor (Addams Family, Twilight Zone), that basically meant no one was making pinball games anymore.
Gary Stern saw the opportunity to get into the market. Stern seems to genuinely love pinball, and so has more than a monetary motive in buying the company. Without Williams in the market, he saw that it was possible to make a profit, if he were the only real pinball manufacturer in the world. He's in a very precarious position, however -- if someone else starts making pingames, he could go under easily. Fortunately for him, that seems unlikely.
On to point two:
The PS3 and X-Box 360 will certainly be more powerful than the current generation of machines. But there is an amazing amount of hype flying around concerning them right now. In light of the promises made concerning the PS2 and X-Box back at their release, I'm taking whatever either company says with a three-ton grain of salt until the systems are actually released and the play of their games can be assessed.
Point three:
I'm not certain that neither Sony or Microsoft's game division will not make a profit. I'd put more money on Sony than Microsoft. Nintendo is not in as much trouble as the article seems to suggest -- reading the original article sources makes it clear what happened is that Nintendo had a large R&D charge this year, probably from development work on the Revolution.
It should read: Nintendo profits while causing Sony and Microsoft gaming divisions to lose a combined total of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. But that's not something 1up would ever print....
Absolutely. As soon as they produce a console that runs Windows, they're f***ed.
surely that should be:
"Time to release more Pokemon stat games!"
DS + more games == more monies.
The DS is nothing more than a novelty at the moment. Hardly a serious gaming platform [though it could be].
Maybe they have to lower the license costs for developers or open up more...
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Yes, it's hard when it is illegal for video rental stores to rent out games in your country.
Nintendo has been in the quality games business, and doing a darn good job of it, for quite awhile now. The minute they stoop to pandering to the masses or the industry is the moment they become yet another game company. If you didn't notice, currently the other game companies are losing money. Innovating, being creative, and continuing to make quality games will allow Nintendo to continue, sometimes thriving, nearly always growing.
Gosh, you went and made me use three almost-bad words. Shame on you!
Nintendo's profit has dropped $120 million, while the revenue has dropped $102 million. While Nintendo's sales have dropped in the last quarter, that is not why their profits are going down. If you are going to use the argument that they aren't selling as much as they did last year then you should see a larger fall in revenue than profits as you take the unit production/marketing/logistics/etc. costs out of the total revenue costs, leaving you with profit.
What was posted was a 1.2:1 decline for profit:revenue - something that is very bizarre to begin with. You should be seeing things like 0.5:1 decline if sales were the primary cause. Even if you get a 1:1 decline, you're sitting pretty as your investment/production/etc. capital is returning double what you invested. This 1.2:1 decline should indicate only 1 thing, Nintendo is spending more.
They are gearing up for the next console generation, that is all.
That happens when there are no new games to buy.
I've been waitin for months for a game to interest me to show up. I think the last game I'll get is that new zelda one, but other then that I haven't seen squat that interests me (On any of the consoles really).
If you know anything specific about the Revolution, please fill us in. Just like everyone else, Nintendo is making a "next generation" console. Unlike everyone else, they haven't released all their details. If that difference (from the only profitable game company) is enough to make you decry their next console, I doubt you'll be persuaded otherwise, even as the company continues to be innovative and profitable after its release.
Money talks.
Anyway, it's the end of the generation where profits are always generally down, and they are supporting the DS/GBA(sp) and soon to be released GBA micro PLUS the fading GC. Also they upped thier R&D for the Revolution by something like 39% and that doesn't come free. Noone makes and article when sony and MS are unprofitibal with thier game consoles, which is every quarter. Just support Nintendo this and next gen, or get ready for a pretty crappy console arena, lacking any innovation whatsoever.
Ubuntu- Linux for human beings.
According to this site here Nintendo is the only games company still making a profit at the moment and in Japan the DS is not far off selling more units that the PS2 and the PSP combined! Admittedly the link is a Nintendo fan site quoting Nintendo sales figures, but Nintendo can't lie about these numbers without causing problems with its shareholders.
I just don't understand why everyone thinks Nintendo is at death's door. Thanks to Hiroshi Yamauchi's legendary control of the purse strings nothing gets spent unless they're sure it will turn a profit. IIRC the GameCube has never actually sold at a loss except for one time when they cut the price to boost sales. Nintendo is extremely good at designing hardware that won't cost them a fortune in R&D and sell at a loss in retail.
Just because Nintendo doesn't have Halo, GTA or any of the other blood letting franchises that apparently "mature" people want to play it doesn't mean they aren't still shifting hardware and making a decent profit.
Personally I think the press has it in for Nintendo and the DS at the moment because they spent so much time hyping the PSP which has had like 3(?) good games so far. They can't stand to see themselves exposed for the corporate shills they are who hype anything that has an advertising budget attached to it.
The Gamecube for most of this year so far has been lacking games, and it's known. However this doesn't mean "Nintendo's dead" It's just not getting the games right now. The rest of this year will likely be Massive earnings compared to this section because We have a couple Mario based games, as well as The Legend of Zelda being released on the GameCube.
There is also some highly anticipated games coming out for non Nintendo properities such as Geist and such. But for the most part Nintendo has been the main supporter of the Gamecube and that's what has hurt the sales. It's still a decent system, but hopefully Revolution will get more third party support.
Because a 2 party game war with Microsoft and Sony as the leaders is just scary. Neither of these companies have proved they are about the consumer, rather about their monopolies (with MPAA actions from Sony and Microsoft's money lust)
And that's why I haven't touched much of anything from Sony or MS. I got a PS2 for a few quality games, but that's it. People with too much money or too little taste are welcome to buy the next super-mega console, or the next madden, and some companies will be there to provide that kind of stuff. By your logic, opera and bicycles would be long forgotten due to their lack of modernity.
I'm sorry, but i've looked all over the internet, even in the original Reuters article and it IS a 80% drop.
Quote from Reuters' article: Nintendo's consolidated operating profit for the April-June first quarter fell to 3.75 billion yen ($33.35 million) from 17.47 billion yen a year earlier.
I wouldn't mind you in my head, if you weren't so clearly mad -Lews Therin Telamon
WOW!
I guess I was right about the big N then...
See them going the way of SEGA any time now.
Here's some advice for Nintendo should they care to listen, PEOPLE (where the money comes from) Don't want innovation they want great games, and great technology.
Yeah, because piracy can't happen on the Gamecube!
There are at least 5 different modchips that I know of:
- Qoob Pro
- Qoob SX
- Viper GC
- Ninjamod
- Gecko
There are also at least three manufacturers of replacement GameCube cases that let you play full size DVD-Rs without running sans-case.
Not to mention other methods such as the BBA+PSO exploit.
GC piracy has boomed in the past year, and it could definitely be a contributing factor.
We're still operating in the black. Maybe you should spend your time writing to companies who are actually losing money.
Regards
The only one of the three console makers who is turning a profit.
Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
Yup Nintendo is going under, i'm sure. If you care to RTFA, theyre the only ones making a profit anyhow. I'd take 20% profit to 0% any day. Besides, developping new consoles for this gen is costing a crapton of money, maybe they're finally moving on the revolution project? It's not entierly un-thinkable...developping the new xbox and ps certainly put a dent in sony and ms, so it has to do the same for nintendo
What? Gamecube is for little kids only? Ok, you keep thinking that. Me? I'm gonna be over here playing Soul Calibur 2 and RE4 for a while.
People seem to miss the fact that of any company Nintendo has been able to evolve on a scale the likes no one will likely ever match. They started life as a PLAYING CARD manufacturer for goodness sake! They then made Game and Watch. Then into controllers and consoles, with numerous other neat side quests along the way. This company is build around evolution and innovation, and they are the most profitable of the current console manufacturers and I would venture to say the most profitable on licensing too.
The Licensing is what is hurting them right now as they are missing a lot of developers on the GC/GBA/DS. The Revolution is supposed to make development more open and less costly (waay less costly than to develop for the 360 or PS3) so this too may turn around in fairly short-order. Hardware-wise they are raking in cash... profitable cash. Sony and MS are still losing money on each console (the slimline PS2 is the only one arguably profitable).
I see Nintendo breaking down all the hype of the PS3 and 360 and getting into many more family homes than the 360 or PS3 as they are more geared toward the college/bachelor sports/FPS crowd. Nintendo will be the one young families cling to as it will offer the 20-30 year old parents the nostalgia of old favorites, their kids some solid old and new gaming and the parents the allure of new titles and solid, easy to setup and use hardware that Nintendo is known for. I even see most of Sony and MS's target audience having the discretional income to also pick up a Revolution so the install base will be quite massive.
Nintendo will remain profitable and soar quite mightily in a year or two's time. Far from on the ropes... just have to mash the "A" and "B" buttons some more till 'ol Mac gets up.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
Mario was birthed from the original coin-op of Donkey Kong back in 1981.
Slashdot: where repeating an article in a post is "+5 Insightful"
I think part of Nintendo's problem with scoring "exclusive, first-party and third-party," games is that they've become what Sega used to be. Sega was notorious for dropping support for their current generation console once plans were under way for the next model. In a way, it does make some sense, you want to make sure you've got titles there to support the new hardware on launch. At the opposite spectrum though is those games who expect to still see titles released instead of being shut out in the dark.
Sure, Ninendo still has a few big titles coming out for the Gamecube later this year, the biggest being the next Zelda series which has been getting high reviews from all those who've seen it in action. But one or two titles isn't really showing much support for what is still a great system. I think Nintendo is already moving on towards support for their next model as well as keeping the portable gamers (DS, etc.) happy.
It could be in comparison to the same quarter a year ago.
GameCube seems too designed towards children, and I think that's the problem and a big factor as to why there aren't many good games.
Let's see, there's:
Resident Evil 4/Remake/Zero
Metroid Prime 1 & 2
Eternal Darkness.
5 good games on a system... hah.
Zelda was a joke (1. way too easy, 2. where the fuck are all the dungeons and puzzles?)
Mario Sunshine... not even a true Mario sequel.
So yeah... I wonder why..
We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
Sony posted a loss in this past quarter (the first quarter in this fiscal year) and cut their projected full fiscal year profit by... get this... 87.5%.
To quote the Bloomberg article:
The Tokyo-based company said in a statement today that net income will be 10 billion yen this fiscal year, compared with an April forecast of 80 billion yen.
Nintendo, on the other hand, has not cut their full year forcast.
From the Gamasutra article the parent linked to:
Despite the apparently significant downturn in results both the company and independent analysts contacted by news agency Reuters appear unconcerned by the results, with Nintendo's share price falling by only 0.1 percent in initial post- trading. "I think the results came in pretty much as expected," said Yuta Sakurai, senior analyst for Nomura Securities. "This is a seasonally volatile industry and Nintendo's biggest games will come later in the year. They didn't change their full-year forecast, so I'm not worried," he said.
And:
Nintendo officials claim that operating profits for the whole year are expected to rise by 3.1 percent from ¥111.52 billion ($991.73m) last year to ¥115 ($1.02bn) this year.
But of course, no self-respecting, mass media, gaming site is going to report on such fiscal trivia. Nintendo, as always, appeals only to children under 12 and is teh doomed1
1up the FOX News of gaming.
Basically what the article said was while Nintendo reduced its costs, its still in the black and more importantly it said unlike Sony and Microsoft actually making money and not operating in the red, and look to stay that way even when they release the Revolution. Both Sony and Microsoft are looking to take insain hits in the push to release theirs
I dont know about you but the whole point of being in buisness is to make money, and Nintendo does that every year. A lot of the "faiilure" of other makers is not that they dont have superior systems, its that they spent way too much promoting a system that they where selling for a loss... something Nintendo has NEVER done cause they know their limits and know what happens if you dont follow them (Virtual Boy anyone?)
Alreadys the PSP is on its way out with barely a hint at any decent games coming while the DS has a slew of games that have boosted the sales in Japan well past the PSP. The revolution is poised to be a decent 2nd system that /gasp DOESNT SELL FOR A LOSS unlike the 360 and PS3 which will... so every system they sell MAKES money.
Nintendo also has a pretty hefty piggy bank that they havent even touched recently because of the fact they make a profit every year.
Nintendos far from over, they are the Apple of the gamming world, and everyone knows you can make a mint fast, but its the ones who refine what they do and do it day in day out with profit who in the end win. The PS3 and 360 can be awsome machines, but if they produce too much loss for their respective companys they will be cut loose no mater how many games they can sell and how much money their parent companys have. Losses are losses and this who game is about profits.
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
All the platform developers have potentially fatal flaws in their business plans. Sony is bent on owning a format for movies. UMD movies just scream "Betamax!" to me every time I see them. Microsoft really believes that if they can prove their platform is more powerful on paper, they win.
Nintendo's recurring problem is more interesting, and potentially far worse - they are gadget crazed, and think it's great to innovate regardless of need. The Virtual Boy was a real obvious step down the wrong road. If you could have strapped the thing to your head, maybe it would have worked, but you essentially had to set up a chair and table just right to play the damn thing. Cat owners didn't stand a chance. Of course having every game start with a warning telling you not to play too long was a bad way to inspire addictive gaming. As bad as that was, it was relatively harmless to everybody except Nintendo and early adopters.
The Game Cube, GBA connectivity was a good idea implemented poorly. I had GBA before Gamecube, so buying the cable wasn't that big of a deal, but then you got assaulted with expensive tie-in scenarios. I bought Mario Cart DD, just to get the bonus disk for use with Fire Emblem. I like Mario Cart, but certainly would have waited for it drop in price if I wasn't interested in some extra items for Fire Emblem. I also got the GBA Zelda game mainly to see the Tingle Tuner in Wind Waker.
Although Nintendo made some money off me with this scheme, they kept losing status in my mind. By the time Crystal Chronicles and 4 Swords was on the shelves, I was getting the feeling they were just cheaping me into buying a lot of crap. I'm sure I'm not the only one to feel this way. Even though I had my old GBA and the SP, the room the cube was in had poor light, so somebody would have had to suffer. Also, I'd have to buy another damn cable and I was already loving the Wavebird - more on that later - and not really wild about going back wired just to have a personal display, which is mandatory.
There was no way I was going to buy the DS. I've already got a Palm Pilot, so I'm not thrilled by the prospect of a touch screen. If you de-mystify that part, your just left with two screen of the same thing you had with the GBA. So I bolted to Sony for my handheld fix and love the PSP for all the wrong reasons - emulating Nintendo games from back in the glory years. Nintendo's foray into selling old games is expensive - one NES game per cartridge - give me a break. If for no other reason than not to have a fistful of cartridges when one would suffice - this was obvious customer abuse.
Now I don't know what the revolution controller is going to be like, but the very idea that it is going to be innovative scares me. Why? People like familiar interfaces. The best interface is a transparent one, so you can get into actual gaming. If they have some gyroscopic touch screen it's not going to be easier for me to use than something based on the basic joystick, which has been around almost as long as videogames themselves.
The worst part about deciding to be the driving force for innovation is simply that your best ideas are easily copied and you just ate all the research and development expenses for the industry. The Wavebird is great, an excellent piece of hardware, and the first wireless controller capable of playing action games well. But how long was it before you could get a reasonable copy for your PS2 - 6 months tops. Now, every console is going to have them. How about a drum interface? Cool or stupid, Sony's got it too. Thanks Nintendo, you guys are truly philanthropists!
If they would stop messing with gadgets and put more money into game development, it would be nice. It's been a really crappy summer for Cube games. Since Resident Evil 4, I'm looking for something on the Cube. Kid games? I love 'em, but where are they? Ironically, the really best Game Cube exclusives are all M titles. Maybe they should take their lumps and be the kiddie company they are alway
Nintendo's big problem is the same as alot of companies. Namely stale IP. Comic books, movies, television shows have sequels ad nauseum. Nintendo has been using the same half a dozen game lines to justify 20 years and 4 home consoles worth of gaming. In the case of the gamecube, the games are often simply dressed up versions of older games with no really new core mechanics.
But as I said, this is a universal issue with major media companies merging. We are destined to see the same pop culture of the last 20 or 30 years recycled over and over for quite a while. Case in point: why are the ninja turtles having a resurrection? Why is James Bond still around? Why are they working on a Transformers movie?
That kind of parallelism, while costing the world a variety of culture, generates alot of profit in several crossover markets (toys, comic books, CD's, clothing, etc..).
I think something is very, very wrong when we base a company's perceived future viability not on "does it have money?" or "is it making money?", but apparently solely on "does it have a big corporate sugar daddy to support it regardless of its fortunes?"
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Ok, I'll stop for a moment and bite your flamebait: but make it very clear, right now, that the Revolution will also ship with a dualshock-alike
You really need to get over yourself. The dual shock is hardly anything close to the "perfect" controller for 3D gaming, and there's a massive audience out there that would rather slaughter Nintendo than accept another controller that's still geared towards 2D platformers.
Anyway, moving on. The public in general doesn't seem to really grasp the fact that Nintendo HAS ZERO INTEREST in trying to win over the folks like our Anonymous Coward above. You could bash this into people's heads all day long, but people still seem to think that Nintendo is in the market to compete with Sony and Microsoft. THEY'RE NOT!
Nintendo is looking to serve a niche market of gamers that want something different than what Microsoft and Sony are offering. By doing so, they are guaranteeing themselves a unique and guaranteed fan base. Nintendo isn't looking to win back 90% market share. Why is this so hard for people to understand?
Despite the tone of this article, Nintendo still remains profitable, and is the ONLY company of the big 3 in gaming that is! Sony and Microsoft make money elsewhere to fund their losing habits. Nintendo doesn't! Why should Nintendo want to change their business strategy when it is the only one on the market that is actually working??? SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME!
A community-oriented lyrics site
Nobody's mentioned this? Whatever Nintendo's put into R&D for the Revolution...That "downloadable back catalogue" feature is going to sell a system or two.
I have no idea what the numbers are. But the strategy is genius. In addition to fighting to be the second or third console in every household, be the only console for people, like myself, who don't buy them. I can't be the only twenty-something who gave up the rat race after SNES and weekend rentals.
They might not hook the MTV audience from mid-teens to college, but the risks in that segment are high. Using nostalgia as a gateway to untapped markets is brilliant. To say it "makes up for" development costs is hasty since I have no concept of the scale involved, but the machine is going to sell itself.
you can have my violent video games when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.
Prime UID Club
Viewtiful Joe
Viewtiful Joe 2
Smash Brothers Melee
Metroid Prime 2
RE 4
RE Zero
Animal Crossing
Tales of Symphonia
Zelda: Wind Waker
Zelda: Four Swords
Pikmin 2
Eternal Darkness
MarioKart
Paper Mario 2
Metal Arms
BG: Dark Alliance
Mario Tennis
Mario Sunshine
Splinter Cell
Soul Calibur 2
F-Zero GX
P.N. 03
Rogue Leader
Rebel Strike
TimeSplitters 2
TimeSplitters 3
Monkey Ball 2
Ikaruga
MegaMan X: Command Mission
Killer 7 (YMMV)
And plenty more. The games are there; you just choose to ignore them.
For Kids By Kids, modelled after the racially insensitive clothing line FUBU? ...Kids making the console games in 3rd World Nintendo sweatshops, so that other kids can play them. There's a certain sick irony in that which lets me know that one day it will become true.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Only on Slashdot could a story about Nintendo's declining profits be inundated with comments about how "They're doing just fine". Right. They're a company which makes excellent games and terrific hardware. Unfortunately quarterly game releases tend to leave most customers dissatisfied.
This is a useless article. You really need to know if this surprised the market; maybe Nintendo -- and the market -- were expecting the drop in profits for the quarter. If I knew where to get a Nintendo stock quote from the Nikkei...
One man's Funny is another man's Offtopic.
Just yesterday, I just picked up Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls, for my GBA. I buy about one new GBA game every 2 months. I don't have a GameCube.
VOTE!
But I don't often spend my time playing stupid kid games. Gamecube sucked.
My nephew got a GameCube because he loves the Mario series. When compared to an X-Box or PS2 the machinary just feels like an expensive toy whereas the others feel and look like an advanced piece of technolgy. The machine works fine, the the packaging sucks. If they ever want to pull in the money crowd (18-34 demographic) they will need to change their marketing and appearance.
Agree - we're talking about a decline in profits, not losses. The previous quarter the year before they made 17.47b yen and now down to 3.75b. The 17b figure was up a stunning 140% from the same 2003 qtr. Management kept their full year forecast (3.1% profit) the same so the decline wasn't unexpected by the home office.
Remarkable how people want to write this company off. They may not be bleeding edge but they know how to run a game business.
How are the other two of the big three doing with their video game divisions?
See, this is the obligatory slow year. The new consoles are coming out soon. Developers are shifting focus and resources to them. Not many games, period, are coming out at all. This has pretty clear implications on sales for current-generation hardware.
As for the DS, development still hasn't revved up for the handheld yet. But Nintendo plans to do just that later this year, with the start of their online initiative.
So forgive me if I'm not ready to buy the age-old "Oh noes Nintendo is dying!" wolf cry quite yet.
Glog!
use windoz! See?! vindoz costs money! And they loose money! WOOWHOOO!
so it comes as no surprise that people still think of Nintendo as a PG-13 and under company.
Wouldn't a reputation for content that is safe around your son or daughter be an advantage in the face of the "Hot Coffee" scandal?
Not to get all elitist, but I'm sorry, people that tout PS2's huge catalog are the same people I end up waiting in line behind at Target because they just had to buy the DVD of XXX: State of the Union on its release day. Personal taste, yes, but I'd rather have a system with half a dozen AAA titles than a system that offers a wide selection of B+ at-best games.
I have no idea where you got your info from, but the revolution is marked up for the first quater of 2006 just like the PS3, and will be targetted at households so i bet it will sell very well.
If you think im lying about the revolutions potential, take a look at this quote.
( SONY BOOSMAN )Ken Kutaragi: "The PS3 can't be offered at a price that's targeted towards households."
1. New consoles / handhelds cost too much
2. Existing consoles / handhelds have enough games
3. Quality fun to play used games are available for about $10-15 a title (except for GBA, GB for some reason at about $20 a title)
4. Generic sports games (Madden, ESPN, etc) released year after year provide no incentive to upgrade once you have any of the recent titles.
5. New game cost at $30-$60 is too high except for your average user to get 1 or two games a year --> used games do better
6. Most open ended games (RPG, RTS, plot based FPS, etc.,) take too many hours to finish and therefore are driving players away from the market after they have more than 5 years gameplay under their belt.
7. One FPS is about the same as any other (UT, Doom3, etc.)
8. (Most important) Older consoles and handhelds have many good games to play --> this means one can spend many years playing top rate games on old consoles without buying a new console and/or buying a new game at $40+.
This is essentially like the movie industry, too many sequals, not enough reason to watch/buy a sequel.
Some advice for game companies / console makers:
1. Include backward compatability
2. Release a second generation of each console
3. Combine multi-packs of games for sale in the $10-$20 range (e.g., 4 sports pack (FB, Tennis, baseball, basketball)
4. Lower the list price of new games to ~$30.00
5. Open up old consoles / handhelds to hobbyists via making the development kit availabile at nominal cost (e.g., $200) or even free for ancient consoles (e.g., NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, Gameboy B&W, Atari 2600).
6. Add multi-functional add ins (video playback, mp3 playback, external video encoder box, etc).
All that really matters in this game is who has deeper pockets. Nintendo will eventually be pushed out of the marketplace because both sony and MS know that the winner of this war will make billions upon billions to make up for these initial losses. If MS wins it (and they probably will), they will use that dominant position to stifle competition, and cull any new startup platforms.
Speaking strictly in terms of profits, Nintendo is in fact a much better console manufacturer.
Yes but for how long? MS and Sony have taken the losses in order to kill of the competition and a 80% decrease in profits means they're doing a good job of it.
Once this culling process is over they stand to make huge profits, but Nintendo will fall below the threshold level and into obsucurity.
If I had created the world I wouldn't have messed about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers
Nintendo is going to be going out of business the same say that Apple has been going out of business for years.
There will be plenty of pizzas for those plumbers, I assure you.
The software division may have made that kind of money, but the Xbox devision did not. If anything changes in the markets Microsoft is making money in, then the divisions who never make any money will be the first to suffer. You cant bank on always having billions of dollars to throw away year after year and expect shareholders to back up a money losing platform for ever.
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
How come we only see bad posts for Nintendo and good posts for Sony? Even if there are bad posts for Sony, they are downplayed greatly. Is someone receiving cash on the side somewhere?
Pokemon is one solid franchise. The shows, the video games, the card games, etc. They're coherent, entertaining, challenging and appropriate for any age. It's hard for me to believe how excited my son and I get over some goofy poorly animated 2D graphics.
No, he's right. I have every console out now, and I play Playstation 70%, X-Box 20%, and Nintendo 10%. They've turned their awesome Mario and Yoshi lines towards kids. I used to play them, every one, and those games alone would sell the system for me.
But the kiddie-mario and kiddie-yoshi are just simply not fun for someone who's been playing games forever. They're clearly tailoring to kids, and while that it great, it does take them out of the market for older fans like myself. My Nintendo days are over.
TFA is in error. Nintendo's profits have not gone down by 78.5%, they have gone down to 78.5% - that is, of last year's revenues.
They actually took a 21.5% hit. Call for an investor's prospectus; if you're in the US or Japan, they'll send you a big glossy 30-page for free.
StoneCypher is Full of BS
Sega was bleeding red ink when they finally got out of the hardware business - Nintendo is still making a profit, and has cash reserves as well. Meanwhile, as stated many times, both Sony and Microsoft are LOSING money on their games divisions. Who's the real winner here?
-G
www.pixelstatic.com
When do you become too 'mature' for Super Mario Brothers, exactly?
The moment that you start wondering what Mario Kart would be like if Mario could do drive-by's and pick up hookers.
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
Nintendo has had success with "dual" products before. Two in one Mario/Duck Hunt cartridge. Two in one screened gaming system. But i think with the profits lower it's time to bring this one back... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Cereal_Syste m
It's been a very slow 6 months for Gamecube games, that's for damned sure. Of course, we have only 3rd parties to blame. Heaven forbid there be a tri-console release...the heavens would shatter and the earth be set blaze, scary huh?
I swore to NEVER buy a Nintendo product again after that piece-of-shit Nintendo DS. There was like one game out for it that was decent and it was Super Mario 64 DS, a port of an old game! Of course I made the same promise with the freaking Gamecube, when I bought that and there was very few titles to choose from that didn't suck. The first party titles are generally childish or stupid, I am not interested in playing with the stupid kongo controllers and I want nothing to do with Pokemon. I remember my Nintendo 64 as well, which had a few decent titles then nothing. And let's not forget that Game boy color I had, which all that came out for it was ports of Nintendo NES games. Why in the hell would I want to play a game that is 20 freaking years old, and pay $30 for it. I sold those games for $2 each at a yard sale ten years ago.
The point is, Nintendo puts out few games and most of them suck. I loved Nintendo for years, and they would constantly dissapoint me.
i bet /. remembers more nintendo game theme music than non-nintendo theme music.
most memorable theme music award: super mario bros. or something else?