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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'."
selling their rootkit...
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
Over there, they take a longer term view and do not live and die by the quarter like they do here in the US. This is partially cultural. It's not necessarily a good thing but it is a factually true thing. They are more forgiving for this kind of financial result than investors in the US are.
However, another, and not necessarily helpful reason for this patient view is that the equity owners who normally would jump ship are often also the debt holders of the corporation. This is almost unheard of here in the US and the result in Japan is that corporations are more likely to ignore long term problems with a corporation because the best solution (dumping shares) would hurt their debt value so they tend to stay the course and hope for the best.
Sony profits went from 28.4 billion yen last year this quarter to 1.7 billion yen. The battery recall cost 51 billion yen. (via Yahoo!) So, had the battery recall not happened, Sony's profits could have increased (up to 85%, depending on the accounting magic with the recall) even given the development costs for the PS3.
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=212
:)
Not much more really needs to be said
(I'm actually surprised Sony hasn't received the Apple treatment - "Beleaguered Sony")
I care that they both have consoles launching and I am interested in trying both. I am interested in the launch lineup. I'm interested in specs. Controllers. Formats. But quarterly reports, do we really care that much?
Anyways, I hope Sony learns from their mistakes and improves. I will vote with my dollars accordingly until they stop behaving badly. I don't want them to "die", as some posters have mentioned; besides being exceedingly unlikely, Sony has made great things in the past. It would be nice to see a return to form, specifically for SCE and Sony Electronics. The media arms I have no use for.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
If you think that the people that Sony have pissed off with their rootkits, lawsuits, and causing Lik-Sang to shut down aren't the same people that they're relying on as early adopters for the expensive ps3, then you need a reality check.
Re-read. They specifically give the numbers of the Sony games devision. It's even quoted in the summary.
DRM Rootkit Lik Sang Arrogance Emotion Engine Massive Damage
[quote] Nothing Sony has done to anyone has had any effect whatsoever on its profits. If you honestly think .005% impacts their bottom line, you need a reality check.
[/quote]
Or to re-phrase
Sony's profits or losses are due to fairies and the movements of the celestial bodies. Nothing the company does affects their bottom line.
http://ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20061011
-Tim Louden
I think those are really the least significant blunders of theirs. The first and foremost problem they're facing is the price of the PS3 along with arrogant comments like "You'll want to get a second job to afford the PS3!" and "Europe loves waiting.".
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
Corporate shill, or Sony fanboy? You decide!
94% down eh? Ouch.
... hmm how did he put it at E3? ... buy PS3s "because."
But don't worry - Sony will laugh all the way to the bank when you
In all seriousness it's expected for their profits to be in the gutter with the development of the next gen console... the real surprise here is that Nintendo's profits are UP when they have been developing the Wii - sure it's a less intensive system that is probably lower in price, but a 'next gen' console should still suck up a bit of profits.
Im not sure where community relations falls into this since E3 but it's been 6 months - I wonder if there is significant impact by Nintendo's positive view in the limelight in comparison with Sony's more arrogant and egotistical stance (IMO.)
Its Deluxe, son. Deluxe!
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.
Because the NES days were fucking horrible, god how miserable we were with the poor quality titles that poured out of the development studios. The horrific absence of any innovative, classic titles. Nintendo nigh brought the video games industry to its knees with their steel fisted hegemony! How cruel they were!
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.
You guys are both right. Sony has managed to piss off the analysts with their poor performance and information sharing, mainstream customers with the PS3 pricing, and early adopters with their other shenanigans. Taken individually, "people" tend to write these things off as a screw-up. Taken together, people interpret this as a corporate culture that is in serious trouble.
This is one of those (-1) + (-1) + (-1) = (-5) public perception situations.
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).
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I don't want Microsoft to be utterly dominant in yet another industry without serious competition (which I don't think Nintendo is at this point, even with the Wii).
...
Just one question, why don't you think Nintendo can be serious competition?
You never really explained that
It just seems like a comment that I regularly saw before the PSP was released that people were worried that Sony would dominate the handheld market because Nintendo couldn't be serious competition; and we all know how that is turning out. The most interesting thing about the Wii is not the Wiimote but is the agressive strategy that Nintendo is using for it's first party titles; in 12 months Nintendo will have release Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon, Mario, Super Smash Bros, and Mario Party. With the exception of Animal Crossing and Mario Kart (which could still be announced at E3 2007), Nintendo will have released a sequel to nearly every Million selling Nintendo made Gamecube game.
It is quite possible that in November of Next year we could be commenting on a story that talks about Nintendo's unprecidented and unexpected performance over the past year; which (of course) mentions the unexpected quantity of high quality Million Selling first party games.
Here's a snippet from the article:
Obviously MS should get a nice sales boost of the 360 over the holiday season, especially from gamers who aren't able to get their hands on the extremely limited PS3. It'll be especially important to see how Japanese sales go, thanks to the new Blue Dragon bundle.
-- jchenx
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.
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...
Good point. While I agree that Rootkit fiascos, Lik-Sang shut down, and even press blunders are only going to be heard by a very small percentage of their customers (even the public address blunders require that you be constantly tuned into tech news), it DOES reach the press, who starts to get an increasingly negative view of their products. When the press starts rooting against a console (or a politician, or anything), then the console's got problems, because that inherently negative attitude from the press will start to affect the popular consensus. A huge majority of tech news sites online have a very bad impression of the PS3. Hell, I was in GameStop yesterday, and one of the clerks was even voicing his feelings against the system... and when you have the very people who are supposed to be pushing your system's, voicing their opposition, you're SCREWED.
It's all a snowball effect. Maybe I was wrong to overlook the small, geeky concerns of one tiny demographic. Sure, in the end maybe only 0.1% of the population will know what a Root Kit is, but the negativity that trickles down through tech news sites because of that could have a huge impact on the long-term popularity of the system. Now, the people that are suggesting that a Root Kit debacle itself will have any impact on the minds of the masses, need to get their heads out of their collective asses... but it might be a bit short-sided to overlook the larger problems it could cause.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
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 ?
I agree with almost everything you said, but I think you underestimate the percentage of the population who knows about the rootkit BS and is livid about it. I'm not in the top 0.1% or even 1% of the techiest people in the country. I also freely admit that I don't really know how a computer OS works on a programming level. But I do know that the BMG rootkit can be likened to a cancer in your computer, where even its removal can be fatal if not done the right way; and I know that every one of my friends who would listen to me speak about it (albeit in general terms) knows about it too.
Whether they choose to boycott Sony as I have (for the rootkit and other things) or not, at least they know that Sony is pulling some underhanded sh**.