The loss is a little bit better than expected, but it still sucks.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/29977
Nintendo officially announced a 43 billion yen loss during the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2012.
It is nearly a 20 billion yen decrease from the 65 billion yen loss forecast in January, but that was mainly because of an unanticipated depreciation of the yen over the past few months. Their sales were actually down 12 billion yen from their previous estimate.
It's not all doom and gloom, though, as the 3DS, which is still being sold at a loss following the price cut last summer, was the fastest-selling system ever in Japan last year, selling more than five million units. Overall, the 3DS moved 13.53 million units over the course of the fiscal year across all territories. However, it was noted in the company's financial report that "the start of the year-end sales season was slower in comparison to the last few years," meaning they couldn't recover from the rough first half of last year.
The company is projecting a modest profit for the upcoming fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2013. The 3DS is expected to be sold at a profit starting in the middle of the fiscal year (around September), which is coincidentally the same time that New Super Mario Bros. 2 is slated to launch. New already-announced iterations in the Brain Age and Animal Crossing series were mentioned as well, with the former slated for a summer release in Japan and the latter scheduled for fall.
They might have tons of money in the reserves, but a loss is a loss is a loss. This isn't non-news; It's not something that should be ignored or brushed off.
The folks at Nintendo are aware of this, and that's why they're being aggressive with the 3DS price cut, the onslaught of Mario, etc.
That being said, it'll be interesting to see how this year plays out sales-wise. The numbers don't seem too ridiculous to attain (remember: the Wii U number of 10 million includes Wii sales as well).
Does any of the loss have to do with Wii U R&D? It'd be nice to know if they're spending good money developing it.Their R&D for last year, the previous year, and expected for this year is practically constant. They actually spend a fair amount more on advertising than R&D. They are building a new development facility though.
What I find most interesting about this is that Iwata has gone from the CEO who could do no wrong to the guy presiding over the worst company performance in its history. That can't inspire investor confidence in him; they'll ask, "Did he just get lucky with Wii?"
Remember the "It just prints money" meme? Yeah, not so much of that nowadays. Iwata's reign has had extreme highs and extreme lows.
I can't say I'm truly really surprised that the Marketing budget is larger then the R&D considering Nintendo Practically markets to every corner of the globe.Does any of the loss have to do with Wii U R&D? It'd be nice to know if they're spending good money developing it.Their R&D for last year, the previous year, and expected for this year is practically constant. They actually spend a fair amount more on advertising than R&D. They are building a new development facility though.
Sometimes they will lose money!
... and how does the overall profit compare during Iwata's run? Or are we letting articles like these convince us money has a 12-month shelf life?
As much as people like to play up the "console wars," it's not like some monthly or yearly sport where every so often we need to see who "won." The companies make the games, we play the games, and nothing has shown that changing any time soon, especially with this particular company.
We really should stop caring about sales figures as a proper predictor of the future too ... apparently Rayman Origins is getting a sequel and all I've heard about that game is how (despite its greatness) it bombed, bombed, bombed, bombed, failed, failed, bombed, failed ... more or less.
I miss the days when gaming media cared more about game content than financial reports. Every year or so to check if anyone is SEGA-ing their way out of a certain segment? Fine. Every week like we're monitoring life support?? No thanks.
Not just 3DS, but declining Wii and DS sales are at fault too. Nintendo even says in their financial report that Wii U and 3DS sales will not be enough to offset expected declines in Wii and DS sales (especially since Wii U will only be out for about 4 months of the next fiscal year).
When you really stop and think about it all games are subsidized. They are longer, cost more to make, and hold more content, but there prices have not kept up with inflation.
When you really stop and think about it all games are subsidized. They are longer, cost more to make, and hold more content, but there prices have not kept up with inflation.
At one point I think so.When you really stop and think about it all games are subsidized. They are longer, cost more to make, and hold more content, but there prices have not kept up with inflation.
Couldn't that also be partially attributed to the fact that disk based media became cheaper to produce then the old cartridge based games from back in the NES/Genesis/SNES/N64 days? So in a way, while game prices remained the same, companies were able to make a bit more on each game sold when they switched to CDs/DVD. Since the switch, game prices have risen $10 from $50, which is a 20% increase in price, which is nothing to sneeze at
At one point I think so.When you really stop and think about it all games are subsidized. They are longer, cost more to make, and hold more content, but there prices have not kept up with inflation.
Couldn't that also be partially attributed to the fact that disk based media became cheaper to produce then the old cartridge based games from back in the NES/Genesis/SNES/N64 days? So in a way, while game prices remained the same, companies were able to make a bit more on each game sold when they switched to CDs/DVD. Since the switch, game prices have risen $10 from $50, which is a 20% increase in price, which is nothing to sneeze at
In the 1980's while growing up I really don't remember games only being $10. $20 for cheaper ones on average if memory serves. That being said according to the Inflation calculator, something worth $59.99 today should be priced $28.14 in 1985 (Year NES came Stateside).
I just think with the current manpower costs to develope a $59.99 game compared to then outweighs the media switch saving.
I read it both ways so I went with the words that would get me a clarification. Plus allowing me to state my rough price rememberance for the comparison since I couldn't find a chart of average game prices over time on the Internet. The Cats of the Internet have failed me. I do not know what to believe.At one point I think so.When you really stop and think about it all games are subsidized. They are longer, cost more to make, and hold more content, but there prices have not kept up with inflation.
Couldn't that also be partially attributed to the fact that disk based media became cheaper to produce then the old cartridge based games from back in the NES/Genesis/SNES/N64 days? So in a way, while game prices remained the same, companies were able to make a bit more on each game sold when they switched to CDs/DVD. Since the switch, game prices have risen $10 from $50 (Handheld games have risen $10 as well on average), which is a 20% increase in price, which is nothing to sneeze at
In the 1980's while growing up I really don't remember games only being $10. $20 for cheaper ones on average if memory serves. That being said according to the Inflation calculator, something worth $59.99 today should be priced $28.14 in 1985 (Year NES came Stateside).
I just think with the current manpower costs to develope a $59.99 game compared to then outweighs the media switch saving.
To clarify I said prices have risen $10 from $50, not that games were $10 at one time. :)
Once again the main reason for this loss was the terrible sales of the 3DS last year until the price drop which also caused them to sell the system at a loss so they're not making money off the hardware like they did on all previous systems. Considering sales for the 3DS have been great since last Fall and the hardware will be profitable around the time NSMB 2 is released which will cause a huge boast in 3DS sales, this makes Nintendo's loss not that big a deal since they've already fixed the main reason for said loss.
Now if Nintendo repeats the same mistakes as the 3DS and makes the Wii U too expensive at launch with a lack of games, then they'll be looking at another loss which would be bad. But based on everything that's been said, Nintendo's going to make the Wii U's launch much better then the 3DS and Nintendo won't get too crazy with the price this time.
