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Nintendo lowers forecast from ¥55B profit to ¥25B loss [3DS 18M->13.5; WiiU 9M->2.8M]

Biker19

Banned
.Probably the most knowledgeable person about Nintendo here.

She definitely is. :)

Third party support is going to define this gen. And Wii-U isn't capable of getting it.

No doubt. Nintendo can no longer rely on just their first party games to bail them out like they could back in the NES to Wii days. 3rd party support is very big within a lot of gamers nowadays, & sadly, Wii U happens to be the weakest link in that category by many 3rd party publishers.
 

Maulik

Member
Is anyone still interested in mario kart or SSB with typical terrible Nintendo online? How are such mutiplayer focused games going to appeal if the online infrastructure is not up to even 2004 standards.
 

Riki

Member
Is anyone still interested in mario kart or SSB with typical terrible Nintendo online? How are such mutiplayer focused games going to appeal if the online infrastructure is not up to even 2004 standards.

What exactly is wrong with Nintendo's online that it would effect these games?
 

Pain

Banned
$199 Wii U and re-branding in time for Mario Kart or Smash Bros(whichever comes out first). I think that alone could significantly boost the Wii U into healthy sales.

Just look at what they did with the 3DS. It wasn't selling at $250 then they did that $70 price drop that completely turned things around.

Why haven't they been this aggressive with the Wii U? It's like they themselves don't believe it can be a success.
 

Maulik

Member
What exactly is wrong with Nintendo's online that it would effect these games?

Where to begin? Lack of integrated user id, friend codes, lack of voice chat, no party system?

I think the opposite question is more interesting: what does nintendo online do right?
 

Riki

Member
$199 Wii U and re-branding in time for Mario Kart or Smash Bros(whichever comes out first). I think that alone could significantly boost the Wii U into healthy sales.

Just look at what they did with the 3DS. It wasn't selling at $250 then they did that $70 price drop that completely turned things around.

Why haven't they been this aggressive with the Wii U? It's they themselves don't believe it can be a success.

The 3DS was making a huge profit at $250. The WiiU is taking a loss at $300.
Dropping it to $200 wouldn't be in Nintendo's best interest.

Where to begin? Lack of integrated user id, friend codes, lack of voice chat, no party system?

I think the opposite question is more interesting: what does nintendo online do right?

Where to being: There is a User ID. There are no friend codes. There is voice chat. There is a party system.

This is what I absolutely hate. You guys bitch and moan and bitch and moan but never bother to educate yourself.
 

JoeM86

Member
Where to begin? Lack of integrated user id, friend codes, lack of voice chat, no party system?

I think the opposite question is more interesting: what does nintendo online do right?

It has integrated user ID. It doesn't have friend codes. It has voice chat.

Get your information up to date before you complain :)
 
D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
$199 Wii U and re-branding in time for Mario Kart or Smash Bros(whichever comes out first). I think that alone could significantly boost the Wii U into healthy sales.

Just look at what they did with the 3DS. It wasn't selling at $250 then they did that $70 price drop that completely turned things around.

Why haven't they been this aggressive with the Wii U? It's like they themselves don't believe it can be a success.

They lose money on each Wii U sold due to the gamepad.

The 3DS they probably still made a small profit (or at least lost a lot less) at $180. They were just greedy trying to sell it at $250. With the Wii U, they screwed themselves with the Gamepad making it costly and not easy to drop price without losing millions.
 

Riki

Member
So voice chat and party system confirmed for SSB and Mk8?

Party systems are a part of those games (and have been in the past). Voice chat is unknown at this point in time but it has nothing to do with Nintendo's online infrastructure.
 

Riki

Member
So a 1st party game from Nintendo not having voice on a Nintendo platform is what? An artistic choice?

It's a developer choice, yes. Voice chat is featured in Nintendo online games going back to the DS. It has nothing to do with the infrastructure or the system. It's completely a developer choice.
 

JoeM86

Member
I still find it funny that almost their entire financial loss can be associated with the increase in R&D and Advertising of ¥15B and ¥8B respectively. Then there's the new building and hirings (though does their new building count in the R&D budget or as something else?)

It really furthers the point that Nintendo are expanding, and as always when businesses are expanding, the results won't be seen for a bit.

So much of this entire situation has been blown up by lack of information being spread by media :/

So a 1st party game from Nintendo not having voice on a Nintendo platform is what? An artistic choice?

Sometimes, it just doesn't fit the game. However, I fully expect it in MK8 and Smash Bros. The reason why it wasn't in Wii games was because the tech wasn't there, but here it is built into every GamePad.
 

Maulik

Member
The way sony and MS have done it is that you can talk to your friends regardless of developer. Thats called forward looking. Even in killzone that initially had no public chat, i could still talk to my friends in a party. Thats the base of what Nintendo should offer. Leaving us hostage to the whims of Nintendo 1st party is not acceptable in 2014. These are the trends Iwata is admitting they missed on.
 
$199 Wii U and re-branding in time for Mario Kart or Smash Bros(whichever comes out first). I think that alone could significantly boost the Wii U into healthy sales.

Currently almost no one is buying the Wii U at 299. You think there are a significant amount of people just chomping at the bits to buy one if it were 199?

MK and Smash aren't going to do squat, if NSMB and 3DW together couldn't do anything. Wii U is past the point of no return. It will continue spiraling downwards no matter what Nintendo does to it.
 
She definitely is. :)



No doubt. Nintendo can no longer rely on just their first party games to bail them out like they could back in the NES to Wii days. 3rd party support is very big within a lot of gamers nowadays, & sadly, Wii U happens to be the weakest link in that category by many 3rd party publishers.
The NES and SNES didn't really have third party issues...
 

Shiggy

Member
I still find it funny that almost their entire financial loss can be associated with the increase in R&D and Advertising of ¥15B and ¥8B respectively. Then there's the new building and hirings (though does their new building count in the R&D budget or as something else?)

It really furthers the point that Nintendo are expanding, and as always when businesses are expanding, the results won't be seen for a bit.

So much of this entire situation has been blown up by lack of information being spread by media :/

Investments into buildings do not affect the business performance. They just lead to an increase in PPE.
 

JoeM86

Member
Investments into buildings do not affect the business performance. They just lead to an increase in PPE.

Ah, thanks. I wasn't sure. Still, the increase in R&D and Advertising budgets almost adding up to their entire loss is rather interesting, at least to me.
 

stolin

Member
It's more like capitalism in action.

Only when reaching for the lowest common denominator of the masses. There are millions who want a quality experience that current phones do not and cannot provide. Just because there is a rush of new people who are satisfied doesn't mean the rest of us should suffer with their learning period. Hey, as it's all free right ? But again the minority are the people who want to pay for their entertainment, ad free.
 

Kenka

Member
It's more like capitalism in action.
Smartphone games and handheld games or not perfect substitutes.

Something else is at work that drags the handheld market down. A misalignment between between the games on the market and the declared interests of the gamers might be a trail to discover more about the current situation.
 
Ah, thanks. I wasn't sure. Still, the increase in R&D and Advertising budgets almost adding up to their entire loss is rather interesting, at least to me.
It shouldn't be because those two items have multipliers attached to them and should bring in extra revenue higher than the initial outlay. If they have not then Nintendo are actually in worse trouble than most here are talking about.

It is much more likely that Nintendo's losses are more than accounted for by negative margins on Wii U hardware.
 

JoeM86

Member
It shouldn't be because those two items have multipliers attached to them and should bring in extra revenue higher than the initial outlay. If they have not then Nintendo are actually in worse trouble than most here are talking about.

It is much more likely that Nintendo's losses are more than accounted for by negative margins on Wii U hardware.

Yeah, but the increase in R&D won't have payoff until after this fiscal year. Advertising though, that's more now than later.

I was talking strictly numbers, anyway.
 
Honestly all nintendo needs to do is to look back at every system theyve put out since the n64 and do every they did wrong right. Release this system. Profit.

-Reach out to third parties
-Dont make your system hard to program for
-keep traditional controls at the forefront. Leave motion control to peripherals.
-Hardware parity. No more weak shit
-Competent online and features
-Nintendo magic and innovation

Coupled with aggressive marketing this system would certainly help to move nintendo back into the mainstream. For a global company they are far too insular.
 
Yeah, but the increase in R&D won't have payoff until after this fiscal year. Advertising though, that's more now than later.

I was talking strictly numbers, anyway.

That's not how it works. R&D costs are amortised into products over their expected lifespan. An increase in R&D expenditure doesn't have an immediate effect on the P&L, but it will have an effect on future profitability if the multiplier is poor or negative.

The numbers you are talking about arise from negative margins on Wii U hardware, a probable inventory impairment and not enough profit elsewhere to make up the difference because 3DS/2DS hardware margins are probably sitting at around break even or very slightly above.
 

Kandinsky

Member
Is anyone still interested in mario kart or SSB with typical terrible Nintendo online? How are such mutiplayer focused games going to appeal if the online infrastructure is not up to even 2004 standards.
I have a family, I dont need online in Mario Kart nor Smash, so yeah?.
 

Shiggy

Member
That's not how it works. R&D costs are amortised into products over their expected lifespan. An increase in R&D expenditure doesn't have an immediate effect on the P&L, but it will have an effect on future profitability if the multiplier is poor or negative.

Research expenses affect the P&L immediately, only development expenses can be capitalised.
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
This is a critical point in Nintendo's future. They have cash reserves and their bleeding is relatively minor, but the thing that keeps the bleeding from gushing is their shrinking mobile market. They have to act fast or things will get nasty.
 
Research expenses affect the P&L immediately, only development expenses can be capitalised.

True enough. Not sure what Nintendo would be researching that is so costly. Possibly a hybrid console or VR, but I don't see why they would do that now and not next year when there is less pressure on their finances.
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
wii_U.jpg


What Nintendo had in the next few months.

Mario Kart? Smash? Those should have been launch titles.
 
Ah, thanks. I wasn't sure. Still, the increase in R&D and Advertising budgets almost adding up to their entire loss is rather interesting, at least to me.

Even if it worked the way you thought it did, I don't know why you would find it interesting. Say they eliminated those expenditures and any associated revenues and they actually broke even. That simply isn't good enough. Do you know the value of a business that can only break even? If you follow through and become a Nintendo investor, you better.
 

JoeM86

Member
Even if it worked the way you thought it did, I don't know why you would find it interesting. Say they eliminated those expenditures and any associated revenues and they actually broke even. That simply isn't good enough. Do you know the value of a business that can only break even? If you follow through and become a Nintendo investor, you better.

No, I know that. I never said that it would suddenly make it good. I'm just saying that the actual numerical values are interesting, plus it shows expansion. Please don't put words in my mouth.
 

Cheerilee

Member
Is it possible to convert that into number of wii Us?

One Japanese yen is close to one American penny.

So 200,000 million yen = 2000 million dollars, or $2,000,000,000 (two billion dollars).

Assuming that a WiiU is being called $300 worth of hardware, that's 6.666 million units.
Assuming that the 3DS is being called $170 worth of hardware (2DS costs less, 3DSXL costs more), that's 11,765 million units.

There's probably a combination of everything in their warehouses, since Nintendo expected to sell a lot more of everything. As the thread title says, they expected to sell 4.5 million more 3DS, and 6.2 million more WiiU.
 
.

Probably the most knowledgeable person about Nintendo here.

I would call myself a Nintendo employee, but I'm not on their payroll. I just get my share of their dividend payouts, haha! :)

If I actually worked for the company and they found out I was posting on message boards, I would be in trouble. Their NDAs are very strict.

I'm under a few already from my intimate connection with the company.
 
I would call myself a Nintendo employee, but I'm not on their payroll. I just get my share of their dividend payouts, haha! :)

If I actually worked for the company and they found out I was posting on message boards, I would be in trouble. Their NDAs are very strict.

I'm under a few already from my intimate connection with the company.
As expected Nintendo dived on the Nikkei (random query to anyone: does dumping bad news after market close on Friday actually mitigate the impact?).

Aqua, I've seen you talk about Jefferies investor notes before, just curious if they espouse on why they have a price target of 29K yen and actually raised it on this recent news.

Are they just a lot more optimistic (than I am) that current management isn't just talking platitudes and is actually serious about making real changes?
 

QaaQer

Member
As expected Nintendo dived on the Nikkei (random query to anyone: does dumping bad news after market close on Friday actually mitigate the impact?).

Yes and no. It usually means less attention from the media and less people seeing the news as well as giving a company 2 days of PR opportunities before Monday's bell. And since stock price is a function of investor psychology more than anything else, it can mitigate.

However, facts are facts and stating them on Friday doesn't chang e that.
 
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