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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!"
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.
Microsoft's gaming division isn't turning a profit at all. I gather neither is Sony's at the moment, but I wouldn't stand by that one.
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?
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.
Well, Nintendo's been on about the overall decline of gaming in Japan for a while now, and they've been promoting their DS as a solution to the problem. I haven't been able to find anything on Nintendo's earnings report to verify, but my traditional sources are US centric.
Without being able to read the fine details, the decline probably revolves around a lot. This quarter was relatively empty on the Gamecube; this is traditional among game makers, their big hits come in the Christmas gift-giving season. The DS really only had one big game for them: Nintendogs. While it did sell quite well, and broke into many non-traditional demographic groups, a single game can't really carry em. And while the DS is supposed to be the 3rd pillar of Nintendo gaming, it seems to truly be the replacement for the GBA, which is in decline and appears to be throwing a last hurrah this Thanksgiving. Another thing is that Nintendo traditionally invests a good part of their short term savings in US dollars, and a lot of their operations work in dollars. So when the price falls, they lose Yen, and everything costs them more. Overall, I think the strategy has helped them overcome the various problems the Yen and Japanese economy had over the past ten years, but it can crop up in times like this.
The good news is that they're on track for an excellent quarter. Twilight Princess should break some records and move some more Cubes. August appears to be the day in which the DS will explode onto the US mainstream with both Nintendogs and DS Wars on the same day. Now that's a back to school special. Jump Superstars is already looking to be a rather big hit in Japan for the DS, judging by preorders. It could also well be that Nintendo is paying forward a lot of money for advertising in the near future for all these big hits. Finally, remember that they're still making money, just not as much as the last quarter, which saw the sale of a couple million Dual Screens and games. Given that the market is up on their stock at the moment, you might expect next quarter to really take off if their plans succeed.
It's just a summer slowdown, probably happens nearly every year, only less pronounced when they aren't also launching a new handheld the previous quarter.
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
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.
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.
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)
The obvious answer is that the 360 is closer to it's launch date then the PS3. Wouldn't it actually be kind of strange if it didn't have more in the way of game trailers, etc, already running?
And still it should be obvoius that Z:TP will sell more copies than PGR3. Look at brand enthusiasm (for zelda) and installed base of GCs vs. XBox 2.
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 ]
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.
Nintendo loses money on each GC made and sold
No
Do you really think they can make and distrubte them for $100?
Yes
Don't say you went for the _myth_ that all console hardware is sold at a loss? While Sega and Microsoft tried/tries that, Sony (up until the PSP) and Nintendo don't.
(PS: The Gamecube has never been sold at a loss - with one exception. For a few months after the drop to $99 Nintendo did admit to a "slight" temporary loss until the manufacturing costs went down. If that's what you meant then I stand corrected, but it didn't sound that way)
it's in my head
Yeah, good luck with this. Whenever I attempt to rent a game (which I gave up on by now), I drag myself out to the store, and find that they have three shelves of copies of some horrible poorly-rated game, that would be avoided like the plague by anyone who actually gamed. After poking around for 10 minutes, and thinking they don't have what I wanted to rent (as usual), I discover one empty case of it hiding behind the "hit" game that they believe they will rent a lot of. And, of course, after asking the drone behind the counter I discover that they are out of it. After this happening almost every time I wished to rent something, I gave up. I'm glad I mostly play PC games any more, because atleast there is the option of demos there (among other reasons).
I don't believe pirate games were what killed the dreamcast.
The Dreamcast used a disc called GDRom wich could fit more than a cd. Many games had to be ripped in order to fit a cd, and in order to run most pirate games it was necessary a boot disc, making it such a hassle to pirate games that many people didn't bother with it.
There is nothing to support it if it fails to show a profit.
On the contrary -- they own the majority of the Seattle Mariners, a portion of the company that makes American and Canadian Idol, manufacture playing cards, and own retail stores. The company is over 110 years old. Don't tell me they just make video games.
That's not mario. It's his cousin, Jumpman. Well, if you look at the actual Donkey Kong machine that is what they call him.
My Xbox Live Gamer Card
Eternal Darkness, a Lovecraf inspired game.
Pikmin, a sci-fi plant based RTS
Ikurga, an evil shooter (yes, ported from the dead dreamcast).
Super Monkey Ball (came first on the Gamecube) an action puzzler.
Animal Crossing, a slice of life adventure sim type game.
Viewtiful Joe, a side scroling beat em up (released first on the Gamecube).
Baten Kaitos, an RPG with card based inventory/battle system.
Thats not an exhaustive list, only what pops into my head. I think they are kick ass as well as a number of the titles with known franchise characters.
Does anyone take linux on the PS2 seriously? It was only available for a limited time and the stuff you code with it cant be used excapt on your PS2 linux setup. Why is it even worth mentioning? compared to a Moded to do anything Xbox?
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.