Support NeoGAF

[ReyBrujo]

Nintendo is nervous as can be about moving to the Switch's successor. They have no "third pillar" or whatever terminology they used before. These market trends aren't good for them either.

So Nintendo is doomed again!

 

[VAVA Mk2]

Nintendo has the best situation possible. Not only are their game budgets modest in comparison but they're selling 2-3x the amount of software as the others. Pretty sure they are also not selling a loss on hardware.

Their profits are extremely healthy.

Yup. Their IPs will always be their strength and keep them in business.

 

[Ribi]

nice try MS i know FOMO when i see it

 

[mckmas8808]

Yes and no. They have grown decent amount post COVID, it if you look at salaries between say 2019 and now vs cost of living increase due to inflation, rent/housing, insurance and so on, it’s not even close.

And especially at lower end of salary spectrum a lot of these hit harder.

Yeah the bolded is the issue. Not the salaries.

 

[Celine]

Inventory situation (G&NS=PlayStation):

Inventory situation when PS4 was as old as PS5:

During normal times FYQ2 was the typical peak (to get stock for the all-important holiday quarter), then the level tended to more than halve after the holiday quarter has concluded and to decline further in the FYQ4 (save for the rare occasions of strong unmatched demand after the holidays).
PS5 went through a special period of high demand/relatively low production capabilities triggered by the pandemic that made unclear how much demand there really was for PS5 (sky was the limit cause production couldn't catch up).
Then in the second half of 2022 normalization began, inventory uncharacteristically kept growing even after FYQ3 and FYQ4 but that was fine because SIE was playing catch up with past unmet demand.
Therefore they went ahead in projecting a historical fiscal year for the current one and inventory kept growing until FYQ2 until reaching a record level then came the holiday quarter with high expecation but demand got normalized during the fiscal year and sales were "lower-than-expected".
After FYQ3 inventory remained at a much higher level compared FYQ2 than typical for a normalized period (about two-thirds).

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Inventory situation (G&NS=PlayStation):

Inventory situation when PS4 was as old as PS5:

During normal times Q2 was the typical peak (to get stock for the all-important holiday quarter), then the level tended to more than halve after the holiday quarter has concluded and to decline further in the Jun-Mar quarter (save rare occasions of strong unmatched demand after the holidays).
PS5 went through a special period of high demand/relatively low production capabilities triggered by the pandemic that made unclear how much demand there really was for PS5 (sky was the limit cause production couldn't catch up).
Then in the second half of 2022 normalization began, inventory uncharacteristically kept growing even after FYQ3 and FYQ4 but that was fine because SIE was playing catch up with past unmet demand.
Therefore they went ahead in projecting a historical fiscal year for the current one and inventory kept growing until FYQ2 until reaching a record level then came the holiday quarter with high expecation but demand got normalized during the fiscal year and sales were "lower-than-expected".
After FYQ3 inventory remained at a much higher level compared FYQ2 than typical for a normalized period (about two-thirds).

One thing you're ignoring here is the value of inventory.

By this time the PS4 had dropped in price to 300 dollars and Sony also didn't have as much of a peripheral business. This isn't just PlayStations it PS Portals, Dual Senses, Dual Sense Edge, Dual Shocks, PSVR2s, e.t.c. e.t.c.

No doubt sales slowed as I predicted they would and that would have resulted in greater inventory, but I think your comparison misinterprets the facts a bit.

 

[dragonyeuw]

Nintendo is nervous as can be about moving to the Switch's successor. They have no "third pillar" or whatever terminology they used before. These market trends aren't good for them either.

I think the third pillar is branching into theme parks and movies. Their most popular IPs have global recognition and relevance to move beyond games.

 

[Celine]

One thing you're ignoring here is the value of inventory.

By this time the PS4 had dropped in price to 300 dollars and Sony also didn't have as much of a peripheral business. This isn't just PlayStations it PS Portals, Dual Senses, Dual Sense Edge, Dual Shocks, PSVR2s, e.t.c. e.t.c.

No doubt sales slowed as I predicted they would and that would have resulted in greater inventory, but I think your comparison misinterprets the facts a bit.

Where have I compared directly the two screenshots (the value of inventory in them)?
As I've written below them, the two screenshots were posted to show how inventory typically changes quarter after quarter in a normal situation (second screenshot) and what happened in an abnormal situation (first screenshot).
Some people in this thread were confused how could have been PS5 sales 'lower-than-expected' during FYQ3 when there were also reports of PS5 selling well during the quarter.
The two are not mutally exclusive.
PS5 did indeed miss SIE bold forecast due to demand not being there as strong as hoped (to predict 25M console sold in the FY means SIE was ready to provide 25M consoles, this time it wasn't production capacity the bottleneck).
Expectations fueled by an abnormal situation that started to normalize since the second half of 2022 (took a bit of time but in FY ending March 2024 could be said it has definitely normalized).
After FYQ3 the inventory level of PS5 is still 2/3 of what was at the end of FYQ2 which signal unquestionably that Sony has overshoot (over produced).