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Nintendo Profits Up 72%, Sony's Down 94%
Gamasutra is reporting on reporting, with financial information from some of the large gaming companies becoming available this week. Nintendo, who had already previously raised projections, saw their profits up 72% over last year. This dramatic increase was credited largely to the DS, with 10.9 million units sold in the first six months of this year alone. Sony, on the other hand, dropped profits by 94% over this time last year. The company attributes this largely to the battery recall and PS3 start-up costs. From the article: "The company's games division reported a ¥43.5 billion ($366.6m) loss, from a ¥8.2 million ($69,000) profit in 2005, thanks to research and development, manufacturing and marketing costs related to the launch of the PlayStation 3. Sales and operating revenue were down by 20.5 percent to ¥170.3 billion ($1.43bn). A decrease in hardware sales worldwide was attributed to a drop in price for the PlayStation 2 and PSP. Software sales also decreased overall, although individual PSP sales were up on the previous year. Combined profit from the PS2 and PSP business was described as 'relatively unchanged'."
Nintendo is garnering a great deal of good will (though the one controller in the package is a little bit of a setback) while Sony continues to tick off its customers. With Sony's latest move against Lik-Sang, the movement to boycott Sony is stronger than ever. So even after Sony can no longer claim the PS3 launch as a major cost, their profits are liable to keep dropping. Which will only cause them to make another stupid move (perhaps incarcerate their customers?) which will draw even MORE boycotts. Their profits will drop, and the investors will start getting nervous. And then....
Well, he're hoping for a bright future with the current lot of executives FIRED.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Where by "stronger than ever" you mean ".005% of their customer base."
.005% impacts their bottom line, you need a reality check.
Nothing Sony has done to anyone has had any effect whatsoever on its profits. If you honestly think
The United States of America: We do what we must because we can.
There obviously aren't any Slashdot members who can balance a checkbook. You're comparing apples and oranges. Sony sells a LOT more things that impact their bottom line much more than the PS2/PS3. Nintendo is a one-trick pony. Sony is well-diversified. Completely different companies.
Seriously though, at some point gaming became like sports teams and pickup trucks.
I half expect to start seeing 360 faceplates that say "Sony Sucks" and DS stickers that show Calvin pissing on a PSP. Gamers seem to be so caught up in the rhetoric these days that it's getting harder and harder to find sites where people are actually discussing... what are those things called.... oh yeah, games.
although, I have to admit, I'm glad I sold my 400 shares of Sony in March 2006 and bought 500 shares of Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) at the same time.
People fail to remember that tech always goes thru revisions. Sometimes the player one year (IBM) loses to an upstart (MSFT) and they lose to another upstart (RHAT) who get their shorts handed to them by yet another former big player (ORCL).
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Only if it allows thorough support for freeware produced by amateurs. The PSP doesn't, and that's one of the reasons that goodwill among enthusiasts favors the Nintendo DS. It remains to be seen whether Linux for PlayStation 3 is a half-hearted port that is quickly dropped (like Linux for PS2, which did not receive an update for the slim model) or if Sony makes an attempt to maintain it right.
Actually, any marketing they do at this point is going to be a waste. They already know their initial (and pre-Christmas) shipments will sell out many times over to the people who are already planning on buying one. Spending money trying to get more people to go out to the store and buy something that isn't there is a waste.
So I agree that they haven't ratcheted up the "buzz-meter" like they could have ... but with such a massive shortage already likely, they would just be throwing away any money they spent. Expect their marketing expenditures to go up significantly next year once there are boxes on the shelves for "casual" purchasers to buy.
"95% of all Slashdot
The deep irony here is that Nintendo isn't doing anything more than Sony to foster that goodwill (the DS requires signed code as well!), it's just that the DS's hardware is much easier to crack...
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
It's like they're trying to fail or something ...
Sigh.
Look, can someone just drop by their offices and tell Sony something like "It's the games, stupid!" and wake them up?
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For about a decade now, Sony was king of the console market. Taking that into account, that ad makes perfect sense.
Ars Technica ran an interesting piece on this, named You pull, Wii push. They pretty much stated that the Wii has a profit margin per cost significantly higher than the other two consoles, so they help retailers will advertise the Wii more prominently and give it better placement---it's more worth their effort to sell $5000 worth of Wii units than $5000 of the other two consoles. Microsoft and Sony are taking the opposite approach, driving up demand via consumers with direct advertising, but giving lower margins to retailers.
What bugs me most about this whole mess with Lik-sang is that it shows how broken globalisation is.
Companies have the right to ship my job to a country where they can get stuff done cheaper. But I don't have a right to buy their products from a country where they are cheaper.
We've seen this with Levis and Tesco and with the BPI and CDWOW. Why can't I ALSO benefit from globalisation ?