Nintendo argues Apple hasn’t had a big impact on its business, but it’s hard to ignore Apple having the second biggest quarterly earnings of any US company ever this week, and Nintendo (via Reuters) signaling a larger-than-anticipated annual loss for 2011.
According to the report, Nintendo now expects an annual operating loss of 45 billion yen ($575 million), a number far higher than averaged analyst expectations of 4.2 billion yen ($54 million).
That’s a loss nearly ten times previous calculations, underscoring the importance of 3DS experiencing continued success (it had a very strong holiday, thanks to some equally strong software) and a solid Wii U launch (a question mark) this year.
Alongside the expected loss, Nintendo cut its sales forecast for Wii from 12 million to 10 million and 3DS from 16 million to 14 million.
Nintendo has been quiet about Wii U since it saw a mixed reaction at E3 last year, and the company has promised more details on what to expect from the tablet-inspired machine at E3 this year.
Sheeeeeet
Geez.
wow, crazy.
Do you appreciate that by connecting these two unrelated things in your headline and having that throw-away remark in the lead paragraph, you are pushing a specific narrative that feeds into the kind of bizarre console tribalism you wrote a piece on a while back?
Edit: To expand, I suppose: the 3DS lack of success arises from the interaction of a lot of complex factors and cannot be reduced to simply "well, Apple", which while maybe a factor is not the exclusive reason for what's happened nor necessarily the biggest. It's disingenuous to present this story (really two stories) this way, particularly as Apple's results are not fully explainable by their share of the games business.
@msavo said:
Yep.
Also, to whom it may concern, buy Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars; it is a good game.
Apple Soars? Is that a new 3DS game?
console tribalism
@Maitimo said:
Nintendo says they're unrelated, I think they are.
Maybe this will force Nintendo to stop living in their own world where they're untouchable.
@msavo said:
I've never paid for an Apple product, I did my part.
Don't worry, in the end, Pikachu will save the day!
I would probably attribute the losses to the weak yen and unexpected price cut rather than to apple’s success. Considering that the 3DS has out-performed the original DS in year one sales during the worst financial disaster in decades.
@msavo said:
Hail to you, Champion.
@OldManLollipop said:
I wonder with that price drop of the 3DS, if they're now selling at a loss.
Remembering that the Wii remote changed from when they first showed it, I hope the Wii U gets a capacitive touchscreen.
I partially agree Maitimo, Apple has capitalized on multiple huge emerging markets over the past few years while Nintendo is the same game company they have always been. Compairing the two in these terms is a little vague. Maybe compairing Nintendo to specifically the games Apple sells would be a more apt comparison. Either way, a weak 3ds start and letting the wii shrivel on the vine is what is causing losses at Nintendo. Apple selling phones that can play games to lots of people who would have never bought a 3ds to begin with is, in my opinion, a largely over-stated reason for lacking sales in the traditional gaming market.
I don't know about all this business but, is RE: Revelations out yet? Seriously a lot of Shit gets dropped on Nintendo, a lot of it deserved, but I wonder how many times we remember they are not the games division of a massive entertainment or OS company. It is significant because they have a more focused business model if their game sales don't do it for them that's it. If PS4 tanks for a while, TVs and crap pick up the slack, likewise MS has huge Windows coffers to throw at XBox. I hope Nintendo can become successful again, I hope they do some things we have all wanted them to do, but I hope they don't completely loose their identity in the process.
@Maitimo: It's definitely a less interesting narrative than you might get by examining the shortcomings of Nintendo's marketing strategy and the 3DS device itself.
I still love you Nintendo.