Your idiocy and faith in Nintendo has truly no end.
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Iwata implies he may resign over poor business performance
- Thread starter Cheesemeister
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Your idiocy and faith in Nintendo has truly no end.
darkistheway
Member
I think NCL needs to free NOA to pursue region specific strategies. Fire Reggie (sorry dude) and bring in someone who really gets the North American market. Their business is floundering here while remaining somewhat healthy in Japan.
Secondly, considering the fact that the majority of their losses in the last two years is based on the yen, what are the chances for changes in the currency enabling an easier path to the billion dollar profit?
Secondly, considering the fact that the majority of their losses in the last two years is based on the yen, what are the chances for changes in the currency enabling an easier path to the billion dollar profit?
President and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America
Mouthpiece...okay I know its a running gag/meme because everyone hates the guy, but come on.
He dropped the price by a third, and it still isn't the grand success you're making it out to be.
Shareholders are looking for growth, not bandaged failures that are now treading water.
Besides, he's on the record that he wouldn't make thjs mistake again. This launch was supposed to capitalize on everything he learned from the 3DS. Oops.
Frankly, it's an apples and oranges comparison. Hirai is not going to get fired because of the friggin Vita.
fredrancour
Member
There wasn't enough time between the two launches for that to be possible. The problem was game content. It's not like a price cut, which can be pulled out of thin air if the company decides it wants one.
Then he shouldn't have made that promise to the shareholders.
This is the thing I don't get how they messed up so bad.
You can't use the same exact huge risk two times in a row. It worked with the Wii but that should have been the necessary step for them to regain some sense and control. This time around, this cycle, they needed to improve motion control while beefing up their tech to reach near parity. And then still with a 1 year head start they could have done great. They had all of E3 last year to themselves. PS360 basically had nothing to show to blow the lid off. That will be this year. And Nintendo still somehow managed to have the worst of the presentations.
Just don't get how they sat on the success of the Wii and then didn't realize they needed to expand by creating new studios, either create their own new IP or attract 3rd parties to make shooters and other genre games that most people play, and realize themselves that putting out another system that is under powered won't work this time around. Did they really think MS and SONY won't try to come up with their own new control mechanisms? Or improve motion control which is widely popular now?
What are you doing IWATA?
Even though Iwata is CEO, Reggie's job is to advertise and sell Nintendo hardware to the US. The biggest problem is he may not have much to work with, but he doesn't seem to be pulling the necessary weight his job commands.
I don't see Iwata getting fired at all. What I see is a shrinking home console market and a company adjusting to that. I also can't see anybody else qualified for the position in Nintendo, and I hope the company would stay away from like the business experts in this thread. Irate has goofed, but so does everyone. You aren't going to fire the guy who put the company over the top just because of 2 mistakes (1 he fixed, and the 2nd he is planning on fixing).
NOA is obly a sales company. An internal distributor. They dont have a say regarding games development
He did not fix the 3DS. Not even close. It has failed to meet every single sales target they have set, even after slashing their sales targets for it. At the last shareholders meeting he even said 3DS is not doing nearly as well as it needs to. Japan is one region, a small part of the wider market. It does not make up for 3DS's weak stance in Europe and America.
The merging of the console and handheld R&D teams was the move they should have made well before the release of the Wii U. Along with building up their internal teams.
Part of Nintendo's problem is that decisions like these, while the right ones, happen too late. Same goes with Nintendo Network not being integrated into the 3DS at launch.
Edit: To put it another way, I don't think Iwata's problem has ever been recognising problems or being able to admit fault. In that respect he's much better than others *cough*Sony*cough* in that respect. His problem is in implementation.
Hero of Legend
Member
°°ToMmY°°;47754902 said:
Pretty sure all three (especially Seavor) spoke extremely highly of Nintendo, Seavor mentioned on twitter years ago imagining being at Rare working on the GamePad, YEAH.
Also, please don't be insulting...
TheUnknownForce
Member
They have a chance to make a profit this year even if the Wii U falters as it is. The yen is changing for the better, and the 3DS is now making them money for each sold...just in time for Japan to really take to liking it.
I still hold by the belief that Iwata and co. chose to delay their Q1 lineup to next FY as far as they could so as to eat all the Wii U's loss this FY and reap more benefits next. They will rebuff the losses based on the lack of software, say they are doubling down on software 2013, and to top it off, Iwata will ask to wait at least one FY to fix the Wii U and establish the new setup for Nintendo internally.
Iwata will likely take another paycut and really get nervous, but he is only in a bad position if the 3DS tanks or if the next FY does not bring a large profit (and if that latter case happens, whoever replaces Iwata would effectively need to gut Nintendo's strategy from the last decade+ to save it).
And by all means, Wii U's sales for Jan-early March will be terribad, but let's not act like we could not see it after Nintendo had the panic Nintendo Direct. There is NO SOFTWARE coming out until mid-to-late March, and marketing suddenly stopped post-Christmas. They know it is failing. At this time, they have to wait out this quarter and hope the 3DS titles like Luigi's Mansion and Fire Emblem can help boost software sales to compensate.
I still hold by the belief that Iwata and co. chose to delay their Q1 lineup to next FY as far as they could so as to eat all the Wii U's loss this FY and reap more benefits next. They will rebuff the losses based on the lack of software, say they are doubling down on software 2013, and to top it off, Iwata will ask to wait at least one FY to fix the Wii U and establish the new setup for Nintendo internally.
Iwata will likely take another paycut and really get nervous, but he is only in a bad position if the 3DS tanks or if the next FY does not bring a large profit (and if that latter case happens, whoever replaces Iwata would effectively need to gut Nintendo's strategy from the last decade+ to save it).
And by all means, Wii U's sales for Jan-early March will be terribad, but let's not act like we could not see it after Nintendo had the panic Nintendo Direct. There is NO SOFTWARE coming out until mid-to-late March, and marketing suddenly stopped post-Christmas. They know it is failing. At this time, they have to wait out this quarter and hope the 3DS titles like Luigi's Mansion and Fire Emblem can help boost software sales to compensate.
It's not his fault there isn't enough software? Hmmm
Iwata said:
Oops.
http://wiiuturn.com/2012/10/wii-u-launch-games-were-purposefully-delayed/
Hindsight is 20/20
Slashing sales targets doesn't mean it's not successful and there isn't growth to be had. The console (3ds) base is growing and it's far from doomed like initially speculated last year.
Like I said, planning on fixing. Downturns are not irreversible.
True. But let's not forget that Iwata isn't the very physical personification of Nintendo, there's a whole corporate culture of being careful and conservative. So we don't know what internal issues there are in implementing even what may outwardly seem quite modest changes.
grimshawish
Banned
Europe minus the UK did well. I've corrected you on this before.
US should have a better year but they need to focus there.
It is missing all of Nintendo's sales targets for 3DS, until it hits one of their targets or exceed them there is no way to call its sales good by any measure.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
All I know is that if Iwata is gone, Nintendo as we know it is too. And that's a pretty depressing thought.
Well you sure have faith in him. But a number like that seems proof of an irreversible situation to me.
Right, because Nintendo didn't exist before Iwata.
Quadrangulum
Banned
I understand why - this is just how the business world works - but I think Iwata is being graded very unfairly. His hypothetical successor, no matter who it is, is unlikely to do a better job.
There really isn't a viable business model out there. Becoming a third party means losing forever the potential of having the kinds of profits that come with successful systems. The same applies to Android/iOS development a million times over. People have been saying that Nintendo needs to act more like Sony and Microsoft but that's unconvincing if the concern is profitability. Nintendo needs to pioneer a new course but that's going to require a wrenching transformation that is, put lightly, difficult to envision and was probably impossible to implement thus far because of Nintendo's size, experience, and shareholder expectations of a followup to Wii and DS.
There really isn't a viable business model out there. Becoming a third party means losing forever the potential of having the kinds of profits that come with successful systems. The same applies to Android/iOS development a million times over. People have been saying that Nintendo needs to act more like Sony and Microsoft but that's unconvincing if the concern is profitability. Nintendo needs to pioneer a new course but that's going to require a wrenching transformation that is, put lightly, difficult to envision and was probably impossible to implement thus far because of Nintendo's size, experience, and shareholder expectations of a followup to Wii and DS.
TacticalFox88
Banned
I can't be the only one who thinks replacing Iwata despite his fuck ups would make Nintendo's situation FAR worse, can I?
grimshawish
Banned
My measure is their doing well in mainland Europe and Japan.
Terrible in the UK and not quite as bad in the US.
Nope. What does removing him do? Its a negative for the whole organisation with zero gains.
The hardware is out; and the software delayed. Iwata is basically needed to keep the ship steady.
So if the 3DS becomes the best selling console of all time over its 5-6 year life BUT it never met the predictions each fiscal year which are obviously inflated anyway's to make it look better at the time to share holders etc, it a failure?
Not it means it didn't meet the inflated projections but its still a success.
So all Iwata has to do is say "This fiscal year we predict 100 3DS sales" does that mean within the next 10 seconds when they move 100 units, that they've succeeded? Over the top example, I know. But going by what you say all Iwata has to do is lowball the projections.
I think there is more proof of him running a successful ship. A couple bad months versus a couple of good years. Iwata has proven himself already, he just needs to be a bit more conscience of how Nintendo got their success and how to bring that to the wii U.
Yep, I agree. It would be a short term fix for a long term problem.
That's a slight exaggeration, but Pokemon will be a good test as to what the long-term prospects are for the 3DS in the US.
Terrordactyl
Member
Out of curiosity what could Reggie be doing better?
First off you don't inflate your targets, shareholders punish you when you fail to meet a target so you set a target you think you can reach. Not to mention each time they fail to meet a sales target the cut their prediction for the next quarter. And then again the fail to meet that reduced target.
It certainly would. From what people have said there is really no one at Nintendo that could replace him at the moment. I think it's also said those wanting to Nintendo to phones and stupidly put their software on iOS are thankfully a minority. So if he is replaced we might not have to worry about that stupidity taking hold. However there is no way he's going to resign.
Yes the Wii U is doing poorly at the moment. The 3DS is doing amazing. The issues it has outside of Japan (mind it isn't doing as well as Japan but still selling) is software based because companies don't want to actually localize their games. That's something they are planning to address. If they do that then things will be great all around for the 3DS.
Selling hardware is a marathon not a sprint. However this is twice that they've launched a system like this though. That is one thing I want investors to not fire Iwata over but rake him over the coals for though. It has to be made clear they absolutely can not do this again.
Well, yes, it's possible that Nintendo could replace Iwata with someone far worse. Not changing anything ever goes in line with everything else Nintendo seems to be doing.
grimshawish
Banned
No. They didn't make a profit on the hardware for around a year or so.
Difficult to tell though; it probably became profitable in Japan first then World second (Yen).
Its really not that European. Maybe not that American but I don't know. People gather together as a company and fight; they don't rip each other apart.
Thats ludicrous.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
You're completely missing my point here. If he's gone the entire reason is because the shareholders (or whoever has voting rights here) want change. Presumably pretty big change that they don't think he can bring to the company.
It's doing a lot worse. They might cut the price but it would be a very risky move because of the situation with the Wii U (each console is sold at a loss; nothing huge, but still big enough to give them serious pause) so it's more likely they'll see what the Spring/Summer software lineup does for them. And no, 3DS was selling at a loss after they cut the price, took them about a year or so (can't recall the exact timing) to start making a profit again.
is it though? didn't Iwata say himself he'll resign if things don't improve??
Aquamarine
Member
A new outside CEO would radically change the company.
Who knows where that road will lead, but it's becoming increasingly clear that Nintendo can't keep up its current business model (two consoles) and expect to succeed.
Something has to change...NOW.
One of the things a new CEO might do is discontinue the Wii U. It's drastic; however, the abysmal outlook of the platform doesn't exactly bode well for future growth.
Some investors have expressed concern that Nintendo was pursuing an "outdated business model," and wanted "something new." That's definitely going to be reiterated and stressed at the next shareholder's meeting.
The 3DS is doing ridiculously well by comparison.
gamergirly
Member
Exactly. I think people are trying too hard to slam a console that can be turned around without too much effort. A Nintendo Direct could come out in any 2 day range to drop bombs. E3 could drop bombs. Fall event could drop bombs. So is Wii U done after 3 months of negative publicity and virtual console wars egotism? Hardly
Mr.Squirrel
Tom
Actually, no it's not.
At this point it's 10k units ahead of the PS3 and 100k units ahead of the 360 at the same point in it's lifetime.
Did January's numbers suck? Absolutely. But it's not way behind the PS3 or the 360. Truth be told, the 1st few months on the market, even the PS3 was selling ahead of the 360.
360
Nov 2005 - 326k
Dec 2005 - 281k
Jan 2006 - 231k
Total - 838k
PS3
Nov 2006 - 197k
Dec 2006 - 490k
Jan 2007 - 243k
Total - 930k
Wii U
Nov 2012 - 425k
Dec 2012 - 460k
Jan 2013 - 55k
Total - 940k
No one knows how the markets will react to the system, and judging the system based on 3 months of data is completely asinine. It's not until year 2 of each console that you begin to see the general direction it will be going in.
This wouldn't change anything. As far as we can see Iwata is a good CEO, he is well liked with (japanese) developers and by his own people internally. He's also very well liked with the nintendo fanbase.
They need to get outside help for implementing a sturdy online strategy. They are on the good way but their slow embracing isn't doing them any favors. Someone said nintendo needs parity - I agree but not hardwarewise. They need to speed up the transition of nintendo gaming consoles to "nintendo entertainment systems" (pun intended).
Multimedia features, online etc need to be a basic part of their consoles.
Their biggest problem for the last 10 years has been western 3rd party support. It's their most important weaknes in a simple swot analysis and is directly linked to a lot of their problems. They should help 3rd parties in porting key franchises.
Nintendo is also a bit too japanese focused atm. By opening more western studio's (at least 2) they have to solidify their western arm.
These will go a long way in helping Nintendo in the near future. I don't see why Iwata would have to resign over this though.
They need to get outside help for implementing a sturdy online strategy. They are on the good way but their slow embracing isn't doing them any favors. Someone said nintendo needs parity - I agree but not hardwarewise. They need to speed up the transition of nintendo gaming consoles to "nintendo entertainment systems" (pun intended).
Multimedia features, online etc need to be a basic part of their consoles.
Their biggest problem for the last 10 years has been western 3rd party support. It's their most important weaknes in a simple swot analysis and is directly linked to a lot of their problems. They should help 3rd parties in porting key franchises.
Nintendo is also a bit too japanese focused atm. By opening more western studio's (at least 2) they have to solidify their western arm.
These will go a long way in helping Nintendo in the near future. I don't see why Iwata would have to resign over this though.
I see it all the time. A company gets hit by a scandal, so the CEO or someone high up resigns. It's ridiculous
It was an implication, not a statement
No. People are inferring that is what he could have meant. Which is why talk of it really is pointless in the end.
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