Nintendo's Iwata: "I don't recall saying I'd resign."
- Thread starter axisofweevils
- Start date
DragonSworne
Banned
I honestly don't see how Iwata can keep his job if he can't post more than $100m profit this year.
This isn't a matter of choice, he'll be forced out of the position.
This isn't a matter of choice, he'll be forced out of the position.
PreyingShark
Member
It didn't for the past 5 months in the US, at least. There might be a noticeable increase in June, though, due to AC:NL.
EDIT: @DragonSworne: I agree, but getting $100+m in profit should be more than doable. The 3DS side of things should be just fine in a few months so that just leaves the Wii U being pushed to profitable levels, and if Nintendo can pull that off this holiday season he should be good.
NeonZ
Member
I don't think Nintendo's shareholders have that kind of power. Isn't it mostly non voting stock? I could see a scenario where he's only removed once Nintendo has less resources and value than when he took over.
Pie and Beans
Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
The very idea he ever believed his own projections when he made his "commitment" and is now bricking it is even more disconcerting.
I just thought he was buying himself time, but I guess he genuinely thought everything was going to come up sunshine and roses with pretty much an entire year of nothing on the slate for WiiU.
So when he gets up in front of investors for the yearly again, what will it be "Please understand, please be excite for Mario Kart + Smash sales"? Then thats another whole year bought to wait on Nintendo ever having a big change. Plod plod plod.
m.i.s.
Banned
3DS sold just over 114,000 [for the entire month] according to calculations from last months NPD sales figures. Pretty much flat Y-on-Y. And against a backdrop of an EOL DS and an effectively dead Vita.
NPD Sales Results for May 2013
Speaking of which Pie appeared :O.
In other news Iwata resigning wasn't going to help Nintendo... so not too sure why we started assuming that.
airmangataosenai
Member
...
LOL - don't be naive, guys. The writing is on the fucking wall if Iwata's in a position where he has to even respond to questions of this nature. His days are numbered.
Besides, I doubt this means much.
Iwata's future isn't dependent on how well Nintendo does going forward (although, making their target projections at this point is practically impossible). His future is dependent on how well MS and Sony do going forward.
Iwata's ONLY saving grace up until now is that they've been able to pin their failure on a) people not "understanding" the gamepad, and b) the general downturn of the industry. Mark my words: if either Sony or MS come out and sell gangbusters (ESPECIALLY if it's Sony), that'll eradicate excuse b, and put all the pressure on a. SOMEBODY will be made to answer for the failure of the gamepad. And that somebody will likely be Iwata.
Besides, I doubt this means much.
Iwata's future isn't dependent on how well Nintendo does going forward (although, making their target projections at this point is practically impossible). His future is dependent on how well MS and Sony do going forward.
Iwata's ONLY saving grace up until now is that they've been able to pin their failure on a) people not "understanding" the gamepad, and b) the general downturn of the industry. Mark my words: if either Sony or MS come out and sell gangbusters (ESPECIALLY if it's Sony), that'll eradicate excuse b, and put all the pressure on a. SOMEBODY will be made to answer for the failure of the gamepad. And that somebody will likely be Iwata.
Pretty much, and Yamauchi treats him like his own. He's definitely not going anywhere anytime soon.
fallingdove
Member
If best CEO in the industry constitutes someone completely oblivious to industry trends - someone who's search for the next gimmick takes priority over 3rd party developer health, and lastly, someone who's management of a marketing message around the value of a key product... Then I completely agree with you.
The only person whose opinion Iwata needs to care about is Yamauchi, who along with his family owns a disproportionate amount of Nintendo.
I see a ton of companies following what they perceive as "industry trends" and failing miserably. I contend that most of what analysts accept as the current "industry trends" are flat wrong. For example, any game that "goes for the CoD crowd" has a gritty, epic, cinematic single-player campaign. What makes CoD successful in reality is the multiplayer.
I said back when the $1B goal (and the talk about his resignation) was announced, that it would take a minor miracle to reach those goals, but that they didn't need to anyway. With a strong year (mainly holiday season) from the 3DS (and no big currency exchange problems), Nintendo could reach $400-$500M in profits and be right back in the ballpark of where they were every year with the N64/GC.
And I mentioned that Iwata would be just fine in that case (in terms of keeping his job). This news pretty much validates what I said back then.
Cygnus X-1
Member
This is probably the most sensitive answer I've read yet. I think it's exactly the main reason Iwata will never leave his place, since Yamauchi specifically appointed Iwata as CEO of Nintendo.
m.i.s.
Banned
d[-_-]b;66937801 said:
Nah, Pie has a problem with the current Nintendo management and the direction it has taken of late [in the post Yamauchi Nintendo]. I have a certain amount of sympathy with that viewpoint.
He does appear to be a marked man. His call on the Gamepad [attempting to replicate in the console space what they built in the handheld space with the dual, touch screen DS] leads me to question his judgement. And that Miyamoto should opine that he made the right judgement with the gamepad in the light of the reveal of the iPad Mini just compounds this further. It just calls into question their lack of business nous.
When you embark on a blue ocean strategy and then haphazardly abandon or downplay the very strategy that made you your fortune [the Wii motion controller], observers are going to quite rightly question your judgement.
That's not to downplay his contribution to Nintendo though as I think he was instrumental in setting up such DS hits as Brain Training and the Touch Generations series which contributed to transforming the fortunes of the DS.
Welp. This is what I get by just glancing at ********.
Something with graphic fidelity on-par with The PS4 and Xbone, and an IP other than Mario Kart or Smash with robust multiplayer that I'll play for more than three hours.
And if they're not going to come up with a new IP or something, I'd a game with a decent narrative that has character develop from game to game that will entice me to play the games that I feel haven't had any worthwhile gameplay innovations in nearly fifteen years.
Freezie KO
Banned
I play CoD and haven't touched the single-player for the last two games. So boring.
Good.
Glad he actually commented on this fanboy bullshit fan fiction and debunked it.
He's a great guy and it would be a huge loss to Nintendo if he were to leave.
And there are two Nintendo's Iwata.
It's nice to want things.
Good.
Glad he actually commented on this fanboy bullshit fan fiction and debunked it.
He's a great guy and it would be a huge loss to Nintendo if he were to leave.
LOL - great guy.
Who said anything about him being a bad guy?
Pseudo_Sam
Survives without air, food, or water
lol. If you think that's why the WiiU is struggling then you're delusional. It's not graphical fidelity or new IPs most people care about, it's price and games. Any games. Fun games. Old games. New games. Whatever. A story-driven character-centric game is not going to magically attract everyone to the system, it's but a small part of the equation. There currently is no enticing reason for outsiders (read: "casuals") to pick up the system; it's gonna take cheaper hardware + lots of appealing games. The 3DS was "dead", then it got games + a cheaper price, now it's not "dead". The same can happen for the WiiU. It's not rocket science.
Incredible. To fix Nintendo, you outright dismissed the two most popular and money printing franchises with still robust multiplayer communities, then went on with Nintendo made no-worthwhile gameplay innovations in the next sentence.
So was DS. It followed the GBA, which at the time was the top selling gaming hardware ever. First year it had barely any games and nobody beyond hardcore Nintendo fans and plugged-in gamers really even cared about owning one. It didn't blow up until the Lite came out, which I believe also came with a price drop. Pretty sure I paid $200 for my fatty silver DS.
Ummm...the Gamecube launched as the cheapest console, had on-par graphics, and had some of the best games it would ever get in it's launch window and first year. Still, it flopped.
Good games won't do a damn thing to save a Nintendo console with an image problem.
The Wii U has an image problem.
And whose fault is that? The man you guys are happy to see continue running the company.
Oh, I thought they were brothers because of the Year of Luigi stuff.
Pseudo_Sam
Survives without air, food, or water
Image problem for you, maybe. The times have changed. Consoles aren't just for "gamers" anymore, you can thank the PS2 for starting that and the Wii for strengthening it. The market Nintendo wants doesn't give two shits about the WiiU's hardcore "image". I'm not even sure what that's supposed to mean, it's such a nebulous term. The nerds that dismiss Nintendo consoles outright just because it says "Nintendo" on the box are not suddenly going to change their tune because of a new "hardcore" IP or two. That ship has sailed, and there's no reason why Nintendo would even want to bother trying to bring it back.
I'm not sure why so many people in this thread (and on gamefaqs for that matter) are so quick to rely on past "accomplishments" of iwata as president/ceo to predict how the company will do in the future.
Yes, the DS, and 3DS, and the Wii were past "successes", but as far as their home console "success", it has been in serious trouble for YEARS now, way before the Wii U came out.
The Wii's success for the most part relied on casuals, which abandoned the Wii for smart phones and tablets 3-4 years ago, which is why in the gaming circles the Wii became irrelevant a very long time ago. Iwata failed to see the market forces and where the causals went, even though it was VERY apparent to gamers and why gamers (which Nintendo fans call "trolls") were calling the Wii U a failure before it was even released.
Guess what, the "trolls" were right. Iwata failed to see what was in plain sight, that the wasted years making a console for a market that left Nintendo YEARS ago. Now their only option is to scrap the console or waste 5-6 years supporting a console that is already dead outside of hardcore nintendo fans. Sony (and sadly the 180) will blow right by them like they aren't even in the market.
Yes, Iwata is a SHITTY CEO, despite his past successes and deserves to be fired. Doesn't matter how successful you are before, just like it didn't matter that RIM was very successful with the blackberry then the iphone just blew by them at light speed.
Yes, the DS, and 3DS, and the Wii were past "successes", but as far as their home console "success", it has been in serious trouble for YEARS now, way before the Wii U came out.
The Wii's success for the most part relied on casuals, which abandoned the Wii for smart phones and tablets 3-4 years ago, which is why in the gaming circles the Wii became irrelevant a very long time ago. Iwata failed to see the market forces and where the causals went, even though it was VERY apparent to gamers and why gamers (which Nintendo fans call "trolls") were calling the Wii U a failure before it was even released.
Guess what, the "trolls" were right. Iwata failed to see what was in plain sight, that the wasted years making a console for a market that left Nintendo YEARS ago. Now their only option is to scrap the console or waste 5-6 years supporting a console that is already dead outside of hardcore nintendo fans. Sony (and sadly the 180) will blow right by them like they aren't even in the market.
Yes, Iwata is a SHITTY CEO, despite his past successes and deserves to be fired. Doesn't matter how successful you are before, just like it didn't matter that RIM was very successful with the blackberry then the iphone just blew by them at light speed.
2) Just like I can play my PSN and XBLA games on the PS4 and X1? Oh wait I cant do that at all. I can still play all my Wii Shop and VC puchases on the U though.
3)Very minor complaint.
4)So give people less reason to buy a Nintendo system. If the Accounts on the U and 3DS are united then it will be on mobile. Its called the 3DS.
6)Like Xenoblade, X, Dillon's Rolling Western, Steel Diver, Pushmo, 101, Sakuri Samurai, and HarmoKnight just to name a few but I would assume you will find a reason not to count these.
He was not talking about BC he is talking about a proper account system so if you ever loose, sell, or brick your system you can re-download those games you bought on a new one without jumping through hoops like Nintendo makes you do. It has nothing to do with BC.
At what point did you think that I was referring to Nintendo's image with the hardcore? The Wii U has an image problem, period. It's not selling to anyone right now. Not the hardcore, or the expanded audience.
And I wouldn't downplay the importance of the hardcore, if I were you. They're likely the only ones buying the Wii U at this point.
fallingdove
Member
For the most part I agree, though I would say that in this case, Nintendo have avoided embracing online and have not prepared enough to be able to competently develop for HD. Both very obvious industry trends that have been so for at least a decade. Trends that Iwata has willingly ignored for the sake of 'we are going to do our own thing, we don't care about what other companies are doing.'
Pseudo_Sam
Survives without air, food, or water
It seems like your "image problem" is interchangeable with the "lack of games and too expensive" problem I'm talking about. Aren't we talking about the same thing? How do you fix the "image" of a console (again, a nebulous and undefined term) besides releasing more games and cutting the price?
"They're not doing it, so even though it's an AMAZING idea that could give us a bullet point that nobody has and it's actually super convenient, we're not gonna do it."
I wouldn't say something that people have been clamoring for for YEARS is a "minor complaint". This is Nintendo we're talking about, they had a long history of releasing their systems in SEVERAL options.
Make them only purchasable on Nintendo hardware but transferrable to IOS/Android? Even if not, they'd be opening the market to millions upon MILLIONS of devices to people who probably would never have bought Nintendo hardware to begin with.
There are probably millions of people out there that remember NES & SNES classics from growing up, but aren't much of a gamer anymore. "Oh my god, game X is available for my phone? I remember that when I was a kid! Bought!"
Nintendo is leaving money on the table.
Oh they count, but how many of those are AAA titles with the Nintendo "spark" and charm infused in them? Not a whole lot. When people are clamoring for a new IP, they're asking for something on the same level as a new Mario or a new Zelda, with the same budget and same care going into the craft.
Moral Panic
Member
Lol, now that it seems like he's going to miss the forecast he decides he didn't mean it that way.
WiiU is a monumental failure in all territories. He should be ashamed.
WiiU is a monumental failure in all territories. He should be ashamed.
krypt0nian
Banned
Awesome! I guess that will sell consoles.
Also this:
There's no way out for him unless sales DRAMATICALLY improve.
In the Gamecube era Nintendo asked for a bigger cut from third parties than Sony did and this was for a system that had a much smaller user base. It turns out that third parties matter. Whose fault was that?
grandjedi6
Master of the Google Search
I'm not sure who people expect to fire Iwata. The only person with that power will never exercise it.
He was asked about it. He didn't go out and randomly say this. He was asked it at an investor meeting, of course he's going to answer.
Yeah, I've never understood the "if they had to answer this question, they're in trouble" argument. Iwata's had to answer plenty of weird questions before. I mean, what's he supposed to do, kick the crazy people out? Heck, there were probably stockholders wondering if he would be fired during the Wii craze.
Having said that, he could be fired. If they even get close to their projections, though, I don't see it happening.