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Bloomberg: Nintendo to announce 18.7 Billion Yen loss for the fiscal year

You're right in that Microsoft had a very specific goal in buying their way into the industry. Although, iirc, there was also some poor decision making with regard to their deal with NVIDIA that contributed to their losses, and that's part of why they changed vendors.

With regard to Sony's losses. I don't really know what they were thinking. Consider this: Had the PS3 not sold as abysmally as it did, those losses would have been even higher due to those large negative margins on the hardware. Were they banking on a high tie ratio? Then where was the software? It was just failure at all levels in terms of planning and execution. Although, I've seen it stated on here Kutaragi hid the cost of the PS3, although haven't been able to verify it, which may explain some of the dumbness if true.

KK hid the cost of Cell development within the electronics division, that was around $800m iirc.
 
Hahaha no. Square gets money for every sell. Just because Nintendo is publishing doesn't mean Square gets zero dollars. All it means is that Nintendo gets a big cut of the money it does make.

Which is what I said. Any money they do make from the cut is probably low and I don't think it's going to sell 1 million between US/Europe, do you? Its numbers are negligible in the grand scheme of things.

I have very little hope for LR. It will sell poorly for a Final Fantasy title but it will still be profitable. I hate to say that too because I hate this Lightning Saga.

Just because it is profitable doesn't mean it's a success. It's going to continue to damage the Final Fantasy brand because in the past 7 years what consumers associate the name with is the XIII saga. Going by the recent rumors that Versus is going to be renamed XV I think it should be made more clear.
XIV costs have been factored into the last two FY reports. So anything Final Fantasy XIV makes will be mostly profit so that will factor well into the next FY report.
R&D costs have been factored in. Have maintenance and server costs been factored in as well?

And yes the HD remasters will do very well. It will be major profit too seeing how with KHHD it was mostly a few programmers that brought that game up. We know development costs were low for it. FFX were relatively low too. And we know X HD will do well everywhere. So all in all it actually looks like its going to be a profitable year for them.

Define well. 1 million worldwide? Again, I don't see where this "we know X HD will do well everywhere." is coming from. Going by most recent releases it looks like the Final Fantasy franchise has suffered extremely in the west.

PS3 is measured at 4.7 billion.

Xbox:

Microsoft always loses money when they buy their way into an industry. Zune, Windows phone, etc. They knew they would lose money on it. I don't think Sony knew how much the PS3 was going to be a disaster for them.

If it makes you feel better I'll edit my statement to accurately reflect that PS3 did more damage to Sony than Xbox 1 did to Microsoft.
 
Which is what I said. Any money they do make from the cut is probably low and I don't think it's going to sell 1 million between US/Europe, do you? Its numbers are negligible in the grand scheme of things.



Just because it is profitable doesn't mean it's a success. It's going to continue to damage the Final Fantasy brand because in the past 7 years what consumers associate the name with is the XIII saga. Going by the recent rumors that Versus is going to be renamed XV I think it should be made more clear.

R&D costs have been factored in. Have maintenance and server costs been factored in as well?



Define well. 1 million worldwide? Again, I don't see where this "we know X HD will do well everywhere." is coming from. Going by most recent releases it looks like the Final Fantasy franchise has suffered extremely in the west.

For a game where they are doing next to nothing for localization and still getting money. It won't be negligible if they get around 10 bucks per sell. Lets just say it only sells 500,000 copies. That's 5 million. That's not a drop in the bucket.

Granted but they can't just drop it now. People are expecting it. It'll only put XIII into further oblivion. Which I don't mind. After this and XIV they can focus on a new image. Which I am sure is what the new CEO is going to want to do.

As for XIV, that's why I said mostly profit. Servers and maintenance are the real drop in the bucket in terms of operating cost. Either way XIV will give them some revenue stream even if its relatively small.

Fans want to cling to the old. I expect KH to do well here in the west because KH titles always do well in the west. Plus it's a KH on PS3, where a lot of the fanbase is waiting for the next numbered entry. Yes I fully expect for KHHD to sell in the region of 1 million in NA and EU combined if not more.

FFX is extremely popular in Japan and quite popular here too. It goes with the idea about fans wanting the old back and embracing it. I expect that to do a lot better then 1 million worldwide. I wouldn't be surprised if it did 2 million.
 
I'll do my part Nintendo and pick up a 3DS this year. You have convinced me!!!

yeah they just convinced me as well, I just wish NoA was competent enough to release colors other than Red Blue Pink and Pikachu for XL. Maybe I'll just get the AC XL.
 
Yeah cos the DS, Wii and 3DS are such failures right?

Haha, do you know who you're talking to?


Anyway Iwata is fucking up. I don't know whether or not he needs to be terminated, but some kind of shake-up needs to occur in Nintendo. I have said this many times, as have many others; There is no Killer App. You can't just pump out the same tired franchises and expect your consumer base to do anything but stagnate. If what Nintendo has to offer never appealed to some, then they will continue to never care as long as Nintendo keeps using the same IP's.


They need some kinda rejuvenation, dare I say a "reboot" on the same tier as Metroid Prime in quality, with the Gamepad doing something instrumental.
 
Many still consider the 3DS a failure because it's underperforming in the west. Even though it's doing fairly well, it's missing expectations ergo a failure

Expectations are too high, it's on track to pass GBA's world wide numbers in 2015.
 
Expectations are too high, it's on track to pass GBA's world wide numbers in 2015.

Indeed they are. Even Nintendo's.

Nintendo, and many here, were expecting the 3DS and Wii U to surpass the amazing sales of the DS and Wii. That would never happen
 
So they already forecast a ¥20billion loss so basically they did a little better than predicted. People need to stop screaming that Iwata should commit sudoku and it's a bit cheeky of Bloomberg to miss that little titbit out. So I'd like to give an Aero gateau to all those who pointed that out in the other thread and this otherwise I would have missed it.

Iwata: All according to kotaku. (laughs)
 
Yeah cos the DS, Wii and 3DS are such failures right?

Most businesses have plans laid before a new CEO comes round. The Wii stuff was in R&D under the old guard as was the DS which was Yamauchi's idea not Iwatas.

Clearly the rot has set in with a decade of mismanagement of both content and talent by Iwata. Dude has destroyed Nintendo.
 
Honestly Brera, seeing as they lost you money I'd have thought you'd consider the CEO of GAME to be the worst of all time.

And Iwata destroyed Nintendo so hard that people in the UK actually know who they are. We were Sega and then Sonyland before. Nintendo was just that other guy for years.
 
Considering they just released a new console (with poor sales) $188m isn't actually that bad.

I expected a lot worse. A $188 mil loss isnt going to lead to Iwata losing his job.

Doesn't seem that bad. Not resignation worthy, surely?

Are you seriously telling us that a $180m+ loss doesn't seem 'that bad'?!

I had no idea there were so many members of the Saudi royal family posting on GAF.
 
Honestly Brera, seeing as they lost you money I'd have thought you'd consider the CEO of GAME to be the worst of all time.

And Iwata destroyed Nintendo so hard that people in the UK actually know who they are. We were Sega and then Sonyland before. Nintendo was just that other guy for years.

Looking at the current Wii U sales in the UK I had to chuckle reading your post. I have severe doubts that they can return to the glory days of Wii and DS. But that's a popular opinion anyway and not too surprising with the currently announced software lineup.
 
Are you seriously telling us that a $180m+ loss doesn't seem 'that bad'?!

I had no idea there were so many members of the Saudi royal family posting on GAF.

For a company with billions and billions in reserve? For a company who rarely doesn't profit each year? Yeah, it's not that bad. Sony and MS have bled much worse and more often.

Don't know why you thought we were speaking from our own perspectives.
 
I like how Iwata should resign for many people here, after Wii and DS breakthrough successes, and with a 3DS on the right track, and how those issues are never brought up for Sony, for example, that in the last / current generation lost leadership, sales, and now had a platform which is basically dead in each territory.
 
Looking at the current Wii U sales in the UK I had to chuckle reading your post. I have severe doubts that they can return to the glory days of Wii and DS. But that's a popular opinion anyway and not too surprising with the currently announced software lineup.
People still know who they are. Nintendo before the Wii and DS was basically the company behind Mario Land and Tetris on the GameBoy and even then you'd probably have to mention Mario or the GameBoy rather than Nintendo to get a response out of someone. Today they are actually a name people recognise. This is nothing to do with charts or glory days, just name recognition.
 
Expectations might be too high but the 3DS is also underperforming. No reasonable expectation for the 3DS would've been so low.
3DS took some time to climb its hill. From now on though:
debt-snowball-2.jpg
 
I like how Iwata should resign for many people here, after Wii and DS breakthrough successes, and with a 3DS on the right track, and how those issues are never brought up for Sony, for example, that in the last / current generation lost leadership, sales, and now had a platform which is basically dead in each territory.

Howard Stringer was replaced with Kaz.

You're acting like Sony didn't change their management after all of those massive losses and problems.
 
People still know who they are. Nintendo before the Wii and DS was basically the company behind Mario Land and Tetris on the GameBoy and even then you'd probably have to mention Mario or the GameBoy rather than Nintendo to get a response out of someone. Today they are actually a name people recognise. This is nothing to do with charts or glory days, just name recognition.

Total and utter nonsense. Just because they werent doing well didnt mean nobody knew who they were. Don't try and project your limited experience onto a whole nation in this scenario.

Anyway, looks like Iwata has another year left in him since these results arent "GET OUT" worthy, but he just isnt making that 100 billion profit promise for next. More interesting now is going to be getting WiiU global totals to see just how poorly its been doing in Europe since JPN and NA numbers are known quantities.
 
Howard Stringer was replaced with Kaz.

You're acting like Sony didn't change their management after all of those massive losses and problems.

I just find funny how it seems there is this desire to see Iwata resigning; basically, every 3 months or so. If Nintendo is where it is, it's thanks to him and his management. It's been not perfect lately, but he still has some degree of freedom for Wii U, while 3DS definitely took off. While Sony kept posting horrible financial results, and having a Vita dead on arrival, no issue were brought up, in general, on its management.
 
I like how Iwata should resign for many people here, after Wii and DS breakthrough successes, and with a 3DS on the right track, and how those issues are never brought up for Sony, for example, that in the last / current generation lost leadership, sales, and now had a platform which is basically dead in each territory.
The entire leadership has essentially been replaced.

Howard Stringer.
Ken Kutaragi.
Phil Harrison.

The only one remaining is Kaz Hirai; and presumably the only reason he is, is because he inherited SCEI when it posted a ¥232B loss and managed to turn around the disaster that was the PS3 and make the segment profitable.

Also, I'm genuinely curious how much Yamauchi's hand played in the NDS and subsequent Wii. While one of the key parts of the success of the Wii in North America, Wii Sports being bundled, was an idea from NoA not NCL, who wanted to use Wii Play.
 
People still know who they are. Nintendo before the Wii and DS was basically the company behind Mario Land and Tetris on the GameBoy and even then you'd probably have to mention Mario or the GameBoy rather than Nintendo to get a response out of someone. Today they are actually a name people recognise. This is nothing to do with charts or glory days, just name recognition.

Fun Fact for the younger gamers: Back in the 8-bit era Nintendo's NES was so popular that consumers would literally refer to playing videogames as "Playing Nintendo".
 
Total and utter nonsense. Just because they werent doing well didnt mean nobody knew who they were. Don't try and project your limited experience onto a whole nation in this scenario.
I didn't say nobody knew who they were, but are you saying the DS and Wii didn't increase their public exposure? Because if you are that would be right silly. And what the heck does limited experience even mean? Limited experience with what? Nintendo?
 
Fun Fact for the younger gamers: Back in the 8-bit era Nintendo's NES was so popular that consumers would literally refer to playing videogames as "Playing Nintendo".

Yep, been a long time since video games at large have been referred to as "Nintendos". Now everything is a PlayStation or Xbox. Sony and Microsoft did an excellent job ramming their branding down consumer's throats, they've built a solid base.
 
And I think it's such a missed opportunity that Nintendo is run this way.

I mean, just look at Sony. Their regional subsidiaries have a little more autonomy, and it was because of that that SCEA and SCEE were able to step up, tap into the growing western development trend, and save the Playstation brand when SCEJ drove off a cliff this gen.

NOA could never do that for Nintendo the way it's currently structured.

Nintendo was never structured this way back when Hiroshi Yamauchi was CEO.

Take a look at the Board of Directors list WAY back in early 1999:

GFzsncI.png


Do you see that?

MINORU ARAKAWA - President of Nintendo of America, son-in-law of the CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi

HOWARD LINCOLN - Chairman of Nintendo of America


TWO Nintendo of America employees were on the board of directors, right there as strong forces in company influence.

Can you imagine Reggie being on Nintendo's Board of Directors, helping manage the company? I don't think so.

That's the difference between 90s Nintendo and current Nintendo.
 
People still know who they are. Nintendo before the Wii and DS was basically the company behind Mario Land and Tetris on the GameBoy and even then you'd probably have to mention Mario or the GameBoy rather than Nintendo to get a response out of someone. Today they are actually a name people recognise. This is nothing to do with charts or glory days, just name recognition.

People have always known who Nintendo is. People didn't play video games in 1985, the played "Nintendo" and that remained true until the late 90's when Playstation really started getting big.

Fun Fact for the younger gamers: Back in the 8-bit era Nintendo's NES was so popular that consumers would literally refer to playing videogames as "Playing Nintendo".

Yeah, beat me to it.
 
Do you?!

A loss is a loss and a loss of over one hundred and eighty million is not insignificant.

The idea that it's just a nominal figure to be dismissed with a wave of the hand is baffling.

You're right, a loss is a loss. Doesn't change the fact that the scale of this loss is relatively small, is smaller than Nintendo's expectations and is significantly smaller that last year's.

It's not a favourable situation, but coming in here and throwing wisecracks about the Saudi royal family as if posters are reacting on an individual level rather than in the terms of a big international business is daft.
 
Yeah, I think people have clearly misread what I posted. One, it seems people are mixing up what I've said about the UK with the world. All I said was the UK was once Sega and then Sonyland. The DS and Wii for the first time in ages (not all time) made Nintendo relevant again. Have no idea why people want to argue this wasn't the case. Didn't Sonic top a poll for popular gaming characters in the UK like a few years ago? And of course Sony were just kings with PSX and PS2.
 
Expectations might be too high but the 3DS is also underperforming. No reasonable expectation for the 3DS would've been so low.

Really? 30 million in 2 years is unreasonably low? I just don't understand what was expected I guess. I mean this year it is likely to pass the SNES in life time sales (49m), have reached over half of 360's or PS3's numbers in just 3 years where those consoles are on their 8th and 9th year respectfully.

I mean who knows what 3DS's final numbers will be in ~2017 when it is replaced, but to even come to the notion that 3DS isn't selling well, is just uneducated nonsense IMO.
 
Really? 30 million in 2 years is unreasonably low? I just don't understand what was expected I guess. I mean this year it is likely to pass the SNES in life time sales (49m), have reached over half of 360's or PS3's numbers in just 3 years where those consoles are on their 8th and 9th year respectfully.

I mean who knows what 3DS's final numbers will be in ~2017 when it is replaced, but to even come to the notion that 3DS isn't selling well, is just uneducated nonsense IMO.

Why are you comparing consoles and handhelds? The markets have been proven to be nothing alike.
 
Fun Fact for the younger gamers: Back in the 8-bit era Nintendo's NES was so popular that consumers would literally refer to playing videogames as "Playing Nintendo".

Well no, things were different in the UK. We didn't have a market crash, we went from the Spectrum and C64 to the 16-bit generation really, and there were some consoles like the NES and Master System competing before that but not cornering the market.

I didn't say nobody knew who they were, but are you saying the DS and Wii didn't increase their public exposure? Because if you are that would be right silly. And what the heck does limited experience even mean? Limited experience with what? Nintendo?

Of course the Wii and DS sold tons and people that didn't ordinarily play games suddenly became "aware of them" actually being for them as well, but this isn't like suddenly everyone discovered this little indie label Nintendo. It was Sega vs Nintendo for a long fucking time, then Sony. Any reporting or magazine on videogames treated the two equally, GamesMaster and Bad Influence were filled with Nintendo stuffs from NES through to N64 and beyond, even some of the most memorable events being the Mario 64 run. It may have sold poorly, but Nintendo never had a problem with visibility.

Except as it turns out, betting the farm on "people that dont really play videogames" as the extended audience didnt really work out well. They have no sense of weird corporate loyalty, they dont consider themselves as a person that will always play console games, they just drift on to whatever fad the population decides is the best use of their time, and nowadays thats smart phones and tablets. All while of course Sony and Microsoft have been continuing to grow the hardcore "we will always play videogames" market in the absence of Nintendo taking it seriously. Thats the core of this mess, and Nintendo has gone back to just not really being a concern for that audience.
 
Iwata needs to go so we can have a CEO that will lead Nintendo into a glorious new age of 3rd party neglect, product delays, crappy launches and every other problem that runs rampant in the industry that apparently only one man at the top has power over.
 
Really? 30 million in 2 years is unreasonably low? I just don't understand what was expected I guess. I mean this year it is likely to pass the SNES in life time sales (49m), have reached over half of 360's or PS3's numbers in just 3 years where those consoles are on their 8th and 9th year respectfully.

I mean who knows what 3DS's final numbers will be in ~2017 when it is replaced, but to even come to the notion that 3DS isn't selling well, is just uneducated nonsense IMO.

Take Japan out of the equation, and then look at the numbers; esp wrt to software sales and yes, an argument can be made that the 3ds is underperforming.
 
I somehow believe that Iwata is a a puppet. Maybe Yamauchi is still making the big decisions and we just dont know it. Honestly, I dont know what education qualified Iwata for this job, he was a Videogame designer...Seems odd.
 
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