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Iwata implies he may resign over poor business performance

So Pachter chimes in and says Iwata is a very poor CEO



I dont agree with what he says about Nintendo should leave the hardware business (he says software sales would double but i doubt that as mario kart wii for example would not have sold 70 million on ps360 or wii sports would not have sold 160 million on ps360) however I kinda agree that Iwata is a poor CEO who failed to adapt to the market.

He's referring to the WiiU and its future sales against the PS4/Nextbox

The Wii ship has sailed long ago and there are new rules now.
 
So Pachter chimes in and says Iwata is a very poor CEO



I dont agree with what he says about Nintendo should leave the hardware business (he says software sales would double but i doubt that as mario kart wii for example would not have sold 70 million on ps360 or wii sports would not have sold 160 million on ps360) however I kinda agree that Iwata is a poor CEO who failed to adapt to the market.

Good to know that Iwata is a good CEO :)
 
He's referring to the WiiU and its future sales against the PS4/Nextbox

The Wii ship has sailed long ago and there are new rules now.

New rules in what sense?

As bad as the Wii U is currently performing the ship hasn't "sailed' in any sense of the word. Things are still early and Nintendo still has a chance to make right on their abysmal performance. Doom and gloom just makes the headlines but they've still got time to turn things around.

For instance, really a Pokemon game Skylanders style and l don't have to tell you how many kids would be getting that.
 
He's referring to the WiiU and its future sales against the PS4/Nextbox

The Wii ship has sailed long ago and there are new rules now.

same still applies. PS4 and 720 will have its userbase in the 15-35 male audience. Those are not keen to animal crossing, mario kart, mario galaxy etc. games in similar genres sold abysmal on those platforms in comparison to the games nintendo achieved on wii or even gamecube.

the only game i see doing remotely well as on nintendo platforms is zelda. even that i kinda doubt.
New rules in what sense?

As bad as the Wii U is currently performing the ship hasn't "sailed' in any sense of the word. Things are still early and Nintendo still has a chance to make right on their abysmal performance. Doom and gloom just makes the headlines but they've still got time to turn things around.

For instance, really a Pokemon game Skylanders style and l don't have to tell you how many kids would be getting that.



also nintendo has NFC. They could make a game that connects with the pokemon card games and with the pokemon 3ds game for example. or action figures.
 
So Pachter chimes in and says Iwata is a very poor CEO



I dont agree with what he says about Nintendo should leave the hardware business (he says software sales would double but i doubt that as mario kart wii for example would not have sold 70 million on ps360 or wii sports would not have sold 160 million on ps360) however I kinda agree that Iwata is a poor CEO who failed to adapt to the market.
Yeah, they base their hardware on their game ideas usually. It'd suck out a lot of that signature creativity/weirdness to be stuck to another console's rules and controls. Plus I think they'd lose a bit of importance in the industry if they became just another third party developer/publisher. I will admit that Iwata has been a pretty bleh CEO as of late though. He'd do much better as a PR piece since he's so likeable. After reading some interviews with Iwata it's pretty clear he has a lot of good views on the industry but in regards to providing a compelling product he's been lackluster. Constant delays, droughts, and a complete lack of expansion. They really could have used some of that Wii/DS money to make more dev studios to fill in the major droughts and gain some attention. That's just my take on it though.

I honestly wouldn't mind however if Nintendo just went handheld/console hybrid next generation. It would remove the constant droughts and allow them to have a constant stream of games. As much as I hate to say it I don't think there'll be a big enough traditional handheld market in NA by the time this generation ends. I see so many kids/teens/adults playing with iOS and android phones instead. That plus the fact I don't see much interest for 3DS/PSV games on social media sites is telling. I see tons of posts weekly on people talking up new iOS games but never anything regarding traditional handheld games.
 
Yeah, they base their hardware on their game ideas usually. It'd suck out a lot of that signature creativity/weirdness to be stuck to another console's rules and controls. Plus I think they'd lose a bit of importance in the industry if they became just another third party developer/publisher. I will admit that Iwata has been a pretty bleh CEO as of late though. He'd do much better as a PR piece since he's so likeable. After reading some interviews with Iwata it's pretty clear he has a lot of good views on the industry but in regards to providing a compelling product he's been lackluster. Constant delays, droughts, and a complete lack of expansion. They really could have used some of that Wii/DS money to make more dev studios to fill in the major droughts and gain some attention. That's just my take on it though.

I honestly wouldn't mind however if Nintendo just went handheld/console hybrid next generation. It would remove the constant droughts and allow them to have a constant stream of games.

I think this is the biggest problem. Iwata knew or should have known that HD development eats up a lot of manpowe.

he also knew that studios are going bankrupt in japan and in the west left and right. Buying some of those studios would have helped immensely
How'd the whole Pokemon e-card thing work out for them back in the RSE generation?

didnt it do reasonably well? nothing spectacular but enough to justify the existence of the device. its pokemon after all.

with 3ds they can have qr codes on the cards and stuff. its easier in comparison with the ecards.
 
I like Iwata but I really don't care if he steps down. I could forgive the 3DS launch but to me they did even worst with the Wii U launch. They didn't even treat it like a launch . They blamed the political season for not buying much ad time , but that is lame since this when they wanted to launch their console. I can't blame them for betting on Mario but they gave people a cheaper 2D Mario to play already that year.

Between the last Wii U direct and the PS4 reveal I think Nintendo has a chance to turn things around. The PS4 only impressed with the amount of ram it has as the games it showed looked like more of the same for the most part. The games looked good just no clear killer app was shown. If Nintendo can get Smash Bros. out this year I think they can get sales up along with much better marketing to let people know the games are there.

Not to knock on it or the idea of bring out big name sequels, but Smash Bros would be "more of the same for most part" would it not?
 
Not to knock on it or the idea of bring out big name sequels, but Smash Bros would be "more of the same for most part" would it not?

For all we know, next Smash installation(s) are going to bring some significant novelties over Melee-Brawl, similarly to what they have already done with Animal crossing.
 
Buwahahaha, here we go again.
Nobody recognizing the strategy, best CEO in the VG business, but hey: dem GFX and dem RAM suxxed, we want his head on a spike!
*yawn*
 
I'm pretty sure we get the strategy, it just sucks horribly. But indeed it would be too early to write Iwata or Wii U off at this point.

are you sure we get his strategy? we dont have the full disclosre behind the reasons why they chose the strategy so we dont really know what they aim at. thats also why it looks so disoriented for the moment.
 
Buwahahaha, here we go again.
Nobody recognizing the strategy, best CEO in the VG business, but hey: dem GFX and dem RAM suxxed, we want his head on a spike!
*yawn*
His strategy is to have losses for 2 years in a row (first time in Nintendo's history) and have a console on track to sell less than half of their last system at best and a handheld that is failing to make a dent anywhere outside of Japan?

Brilliant strategy.
 
His strategy is to have losses for 2 years in a row (first time in Nintendo's history) and have a console on track to sell less than half of their last system at best and a handheld that is failing to make a dent anywhere outside of Japan?

Brilliant strategy.

Come now. The 3DS may not be doing spectacularly in Europe and America, but it's not doing badly in any sense of the word.
 
His strategy is to have losses for 2 years in a row (first time in Nintendo's history) and have a console on track to sell less than half of their last system at best and a handheld that is failing to make a dent anywhere outside of Japan?

Brilliant strategy.
Man, you just don't get it. He's got a PLAN
 
I think a strategy that is to not be selling many of your new console at all and being woefully behind in HD development causing huge delays is... a shit strategy, or evidence of there not really being one at all.
 
So Pachter chimes in and says Iwata is a very poor CEO



I dont agree with what he says about Nintendo should leave the hardware business (he says software sales would double but i doubt that as mario kart wii for example would not have sold 70 million on ps360 or wii sports would not have sold 160 million on ps360) however I kinda agree that Iwata is a poor CEO who failed to adapt to the market.

Don't agree with nintendo leaving the hardware market, but Iwata has done a piss poor job of leading nintendo the past 3 years.
 
His strategy is to have losses for 2 years in a row (first time in Nintendo's history) and have a console on track to sell less than half of their last system at best and a handheld that is failing to make a dent anywhere outside of Japan?

Brilliant strategy.

Dude its a soft launch, there is no reason to advertise the system or to even release new games or to even announce release dates to games because the whole idea is for sales to be as soft as possible.
 
I'm having a hard time to see much resembling a strategy with Wii U, other than "gimmick + early launch + 2D Mario". Either that was their strategy and it's failing horribly, or they had something else which for whatever (presumably self-caused) reasons fell apart.

yup i think one of the biggest problems was that they got into delays of titles that they thought would have been finished a lot sooner. thats my guess of course. i agree that they probably thought they would benefit by the early launch and the strength of 2D mario a lot more than they did.

however i dont know if you could just say gamepad is a gimmick and be done with it. i do think they have had good reasons to make the gamepad as they did. however we dont know if we dont get the full disclosure of the applications of that device.
 
New rules in what sense?

As bad as the Wii U is currently performing the ship hasn't "sailed' in any sense of the word. Things are still early and Nintendo still has a chance to make right on their abysmal performance. Doom and gloom just makes the headlines but they've still got time to turn things around.

For instance, really a Pokemon game Skylanders style and l don't have to tell you how many kids would be getting that.

The WiiU is missing the "wow" factor the Wii had and its also priced waaay too high.

The WiiU is competing with the PS3 and 360 right now and losing. Things aren't going to magically improve for the WiiU when their much more powerful predecessors are released.


same still applies. PS4 and 720 will have its userbase in the 15-35 male audience. Those are not keen to animal crossing, mario kart, mario galaxy etc. games in similar genres sold abysmal on those platforms in comparison to the games nintendo achieved on wii or even gamecube.

Same most certainly does not apply. Nintendo is still operating like its the 1990's when videogaming was new and perceived as something that only children did.

PS4 and 720 will have everyone but the staunchest of nintendo fans. Call of Duty is now the new Mario.
 
Is this a joke? Because I don't get it.

Yeah it was a joke. A lot of the things I hear now about the Wii U and its failure of a launch is the same shit that was floating around when the Vita came out. Of course Nintendo doesn't have the luxury of sitting back and not doing much because they have no choice but to try to right the ship.

The idea that this was Iwata's plan is pretty damn crazy.
 
Regardless of what Pachter says, I do think at the moment that the Wii U is going to be Nintendo's last traditional console. What they plan to do next is anyone's guess but the way things are going, I expect GC levels of consumer saturation.

One factor I think a lot of people over look (myself included) when looking to the future, is that Miyamoto is nearing retirement. This will likely be the last console we see him work on. If Iwata is replaced as well, there's no telling what direction they could take. I suspect their stock will only get lower at this point and probably bottom out when Miyamoto retires. After that, depending on what they do, they could rebound quite a bit.
 
His strategy is to have losses for 2 years in a row (first time in Nintendo's history) and have a console on track to sell less than half of their last system at best and a handheld that is failing to make a dent anywhere outside of Japan?

Brilliant strategy.
Seriously: where do you/people see 2 years in a row of losses? FY11 - profitable, FY12 - loss, FY13 - ? (Beastly 3DS, Wii U pending)
And 3DS not making a dent outside of Japan, wut?
 
I'm having a hard time to see much resembling a strategy with Wii U, other than "gimmick + early launch + 2D Mario". Either that was their strategy and it's failing horribly, or they had something else which for whatever (presumably self-caused) reasons fell apart.

They had years to prepare themselves. There's really no (likely) excuse.



Iwata works in mysterious ways.
I actually spit out my tea laughing so hard at this. Not only is it hilarious in it's own context, but my super religious friend posted on FB to a RIP facebook status saying "God works in mysterious ways" a day or two ago (did not go too well for her after that) and this just reminded me of it. Oh man.

Seriously: where do you/people see 2 years in a row of losses? FY11 - profitable, FY12 - loss, FY13 - ? (Beastly 3DS, Wii U pending)
And 3DS not making a dent outside of Japan, wut?
You aren't seeing the part where every other Nintendo handheld sells 2-3 times more in North America (due to larger population and size) and 3DS is actually doing worse in North America than in Japan. 3DS sales are disappointing in this regard. Iwata has also gone on record recently saying sales are disappointing outside Japan.
 
Seriously: where do you/people see 2 years in a row of losses? FY11 - profitable, FY12 - loss, FY13 - ? (Beastly 3DS, Wii U pending)
And 3DS not making a dent outside of Japan, wut?

3DS sales are downright bad in America. It's down YOY here and well below DS and GBA. Even Iwata at the last shareholders meeting said 3DS sales outside of Japan are weak. Oh and it has failed to meet every single sales target Nintendo has set for it, even after they have revised their projection downwards multiple times.

Oh and Nintendo's FY2013 ends soon and Nintendo says it will be a loss. So yes, 2 years of losses.

Their last fiscal report had them back in profit too.

For the quater, for the whole fiscal year of 2013 that ends this quarter they project a loss. Their second year straight of losses. And it will be a bigger loss than they project since WiiU won't come close to hitting their target. And 3DS looks like it has fallen short of their FY13 target as well (despite being revised downwards twice already).
 
Don't agree with nintendo leaving the hardware market, but Iwata has done a piss poor job of leading nintendo the past 3 years.

lol you know people haven't said anything like this until he (Iwata) implies resigning. 2 months of no new releases and you guys go ape.
 
Pachter's at least partially right about Iwata, but he remains largely ignorant about Nintendo's policies and strategies.

Actually, he was dead on about their policies and strategies. The only thing I disagree with is his assessment of Reggie, but it's possible Pachter has some inside info there.
 
The WiiU is missing the "wow" factor the Wii had and its also priced waaay too high.

The WiiU is competing with the PS3 and 360 right now and losing. Things aren't going to magically improve for the WiiU when their much more powerful predecessors are released.




Same most certainly does not apply. Nintendo is still operating like its the 1990's when videogaming was new and perceived as something that only children did.

PS4 and 720 will have everyone but the staunchest of nintendo fans. Call of Duty is now the new Mario.
every console is overpriced in its early days except maybe the wii. Every new console had problems in its first few month to win against the old gen consoles as the value isnt there yet. These things can be fixed by releasing games and dropping price. The question is if nintendo is going to do it this holiday season or not.

Call of duty sales are strong but mario sells more overall. Mario kart wii did 34 million for example. Thats like 3 iterations on call of duty on 360.
 
Actually, he was dead on about their policies and strategies. The only thing I disagree with is his assessment of Reggie, but it's possible Pachter has some inside info there.

what is his assessment of Reggie, just out of curiosity?

every console is overpriced in its early days except maybe the wii. Every new console had problems in its first few month to win against the old gen consoles as the value isnt there yet. These things can be fixed by releasing games and dropping price. The question is if nintendo is going to do it this holiday season or not.
I think you're doing it wrong, this thread isn't about reasonable expectations based on a level-headed view of past events.
 
So Pachter chimes in and says Iwata is a very poor CEO



I dont agree with what he says about Nintendo should leave the hardware business (he says software sales would double but i doubt that as mario kart wii for example would not have sold 70 million on ps360 or wii sports would not have sold 160 million on ps360) however I kinda agree that Iwata is a poor CEO who failed to adapt to the market.

yamauchi.jpg

Is it true this guy really doesn't have a car or tv.
 
Actually, he was dead on about their policies and strategies. The only thing I disagree with is his assessment of Reggie, but it's possible Pachter has some inside info there.

So are you saying nintendo should have released wiiHD 2 years after wii took off and sour all wii owners and also go third party now hoping mario kart wii would sell 70 million units?
 
Of which there were 5 super successful outings (MW, MW2, MW3, BLOPS, BLOPS2).

And mario kart wii is the only succesful title nintendo made this gen? Also unlike activision they had no license fee to pay to the platform holders and they had to spend much less money for production
 
lol you know people haven't said anything like this until he (Iwata) implies resigning. 2 months of no new releases and you guys go ape.

Wii U was at least 1 if not 2 years too late, costs $100 too much for a nintendo console
3DS never should have had 3D, also poorly named and poorly priced
Skyward Sword not saved for Wii U

Some colossal fuck ups there. Those aren't design decisions, those are top level decisions.

So are you saying nintendo should have released wiiHD 2 years after wii took off and sour all wii owners and also go third party now hoping mario kart wii would sell 70 million units?

Should have been out in 2010, 2011 at the latest. Just my opinion but they should have stuck with motion controls or gone all the way back to traditional controls.
 
The 3DS should have had far better branding, but this is the first I've heard that it shouldn't have had 3D. Same for holding back Skyward Sword to Wii U.

I dont agree with what he says about Nintendo should leave the hardware business (he says software sales would double but i doubt that as mario kart wii for example would not have sold 70 million on ps360 or wii sports would not have sold 160 million on ps360) however I kinda agree that Iwata is a poor CEO who failed to adapt to the market.

Well, I don't think Nintendo should go third-party either, but why wouldn't have those games sold as much if they were on the 360 or PS3? It's not like they would have had competition either way.
 
what is his assessment of Reggie, just out of curiosity?

He says the entire US marketing team including Reggie is great, but they are hamstrung by Japan's poor decisions.

So are you saying nintendo should have released wiiHD 2 years after wii took off and sour all wii owners and also go third party now hoping mario kart wii would sell 70 million units?

Releasing Wii HD two years ago when the Wii stalled would have been a great idea. They might have been able to right the ship.

How exactly are they going to sell 70 million Mario Karts on the Wii U? 5 pack bundles?
 
Wii U was at least 1 if not 2 years too late, costs $100 too much for a nintendo console
3DS never should have had 3D, also poorly named and poorly priced
Skyward Sword not saved for Wii U

Some colossal fuck ups there. Those aren't design decisions, those are top level decisions.

Yup i agree. Nintendo probably should have launched wiiu in 2011 and should have had skyward sword as a launch game and should have had a 100 dollar price drop for q4 2012. However we do not know if that was a scenario possible for nintendo at all.
 
So Pachter chimes in and says Iwata is a very poor CEO



I dont agree with what he says about Nintendo should leave the hardware business (he says software sales would double but i doubt that as mario kart wii for example would not have sold 70 million on ps360 or wii sports would not have sold 160 million on ps360) however I kinda agree that Iwata is a poor CEO who failed to adapt to the market.

Iwata dominating Japan = poor CEO. Reggie too incompetent to make his audience realize that 3DS is next gen = His marketing team is doing an amazing job.

dat Pachter logic.
 

At least he backs up his arguments. I don't agree that a sudden shift to multiplatform is a road to guaranteed success, but personally I would definitely be interested in getting Nintendo games on the PS4. :P Pachter is right that it probably won't happen until they absolutely must do it to save their asses. The wave of negativity crashing against Nintendo is just crazy non-stop these days. As a former Nintendo fanboy from back in the day it's kinda sad to see, but the Wii U was just a stupid idea.

And BTW, he says Nintendo has 8-9 billion in cash. Didn't they used to have much more than that? Or am I mistaken?
 
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