Nintendo reports third consecutive annual loss as Wii U sales fizzle out - Polidicks

By Sam Byford on May 7, 2014 03:18 am [img]http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/32649701/DSCF3359.0_standard_800.0.jpg[/img] [quote]Nintendo made an annual operating loss for the third consecutive year in 2013, ending up ¥46.4 billion ($457 million) in the red as Wii U sales failed to pick up following the holiday season. The Kyoto company's net loss was ¥23.2 billion ($228 million). Total Wii U sales now stand at 6.17 million consoles worldwide, meaning that Nintendo sold just 310,000 in the quarter ended March 31st — a 20 percent drop on its performance a year ago. This is in stark contrast to Sony's fortunes with the PlayStation 4, which had reached 7 million consoles worldwide as of April 6th; Sony has already overtaken the Wii U despite Nintendo's year-long head start. The 3DS handheld family sold 590,000 units in Nintendo's fourth quarter for a life-to-date total of 43.3 million, 2.2 million of which are of the lower-priced 2DS variant.[/quote] [url]http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/7/5689878/nintendo-earnings-fy-2013[/url]

Sad, but who didn't see it coming? I don't think I've ever seen a single ad for it.

[QUOTE=Flubbman;44744641]Sad, but who didn't see it coming? I don't think I've ever seen a single ad for it.[/QUOTE] I saw one at around Christmas 2013. They were among the worst commercials of the season.

Hopefully the Wii U won't end up like the Dreamcast

[QUOTE=mralexs;44744694]Hopefully the Wii U won't end up like the Dreamcast[/QUOTE] Or the Virtual Boy. I found this interesting though, just to put this into perspective. About one month ago the Wii U would've been out for the same length as the Dreamcast. Wii U had sold roughly 6 million by then while Dreamcast had sold 10 million.

[QUOTE=mralexs;44744694]Hopefully the Wii U won't end up like the Dreamcast[/QUOTE] It's actually worse because at some point the Dreamcast was reasonably successful. At the moment the Wii U is more mirroring the the Sega Saturn imo.

[QUOTE=Flubbman;44744641]Sad, but who didn't see it coming? I don't think I've ever seen a single ad for it.[/QUOTE] All the time on Nick.

I can tell Iwata won't be the CEO of Nintendo for long since the shareholders won't be happy to hear this, even if he himself says that he won't resign.

Hopefully sales will go up after the new Smash Bros and Fire Emblem release

[QUOTE=mralexs;44744694]Hopefully the Wii U won't end up like the Dreamcast[/QUOTE] The Wii U's worst selling month was worse than the Dreamcast's worst selling month. The Dreamcast was very successful in the first few months and was considered to be ahead of it's time, it only failed because the PS2 came out for a lower price and also played DVDs. The Wii U has never been considered a success.

Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. If they fuck those up there goes the Wii U.

How many years can they go like this before going bankrupt?

they deserve it, the hubris of thinking they "don't need to care about what other companies are doing", refusing to compete with sony or microsoft, creating a subpar console, refusing to fire iwata, etc... they're in this solely due to arrogance, if they go the sega way, maybe we'll one day get PC mario, pokemon, zelda games, like we're geting sonic pc games. [url]http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-06-17-iwata-we-dont-care-about-what-other-companies-are-doing[/url]

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;44744812]How many years can they go like this before going bankrupt?[/QUOTE] Years, Nintendo make money hand over fist with the 3DS.

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;44744812]How many years can they go like this before going bankrupt?[/QUOTE] As long as they're still making dosh from handhelds, it'll be a long time before that happens.

Well they really screwed up with marketing for starters. Unlike the marketing done for the Wii, the Wii U's marketing was piss poor. The average consumer still considers the Wii U as a mere extension of the Wii. There are still people buying Wii U games thinking they will work on the Wii.

[QUOTE=Wizards Court;44744818]they deserve it, the hubris of thinking they "don't need to care about what other companies are doing", refusing to compete with sony or microsoft, creating a subpar console, refusing to fire iwata, etc... they're in this solely due to arrogance, if they go the sega way, maybe we'll one day get PC mario, pokemon, zelda games, like we're geting sonic pc games. [/QUOTE] A subpar console? Excuse me, I, for example, own one. The Wii U is technically the best console Nintendo has ever produced. 60 FPS and 1080p for almost every game. A gamepad that feels like a good addition to the possibilites the Wii U offers. They continue the produce fun-as-fuck games with Pikmin 3, Mario 3D World, Wonderful 101, etc. In my eyes it's the best console they have made so far. If you would take a look at Nintendos console you would see, that they were never "high" quality stuff but even it out with the great games. The just released it too early, with not enough killergames. Refusing to fire Iwata? They cut the salaries for the upper heads from Nintendo by 50%. And did it again a few months ago, due to Nintendos loss. In other companies those people would leave the company and take millions with them. Sony on the other hand fired 10.000 of their employee due to their loss, while Nintendo tried to fire as few people as possible. Actually, none. Refusing to compete with Microsoft and Sony? Excuse me, what exactly did they do for the past 20 years? They even left Xbox 360 and PS3 far behind with the Wii sales. And still dominate the handheldmarket. Mario and co. for PC? What a dreamer! Sega made 3 flop products in a row and were nearly broke. That was their only way to survive. But Nintendo on the other hand made constant win years in a row. They have enough money to survive the Wii U. And enough money to survive for at least another 10 years. edit: thx for teh funnies. That's my opinion how it is.

[QUOTE=Ayane-152;44744856]As long as they're still making dosh from handhelds, it'll be a long time before that happens.[/QUOTE] Well 3DS sales are over a million units short of expectations for the last financial year

[QUOTE=Antimuffin;44744873]A subpar console? Excuse me, I, for example, own one. The Wii U is technically the best console Nintendo has ever produced. 60 FPS and 1080p for almost every game. A gamepad that feels like a good addition to the possibilites the Wii U offers. They continue the produce fun-as-fuck games with Pikmin 3, Mario 3D World, Wonderful 101, etc. In my eyes it's the best console they have made so far. The just released it too early, with not enough killergames. Refusing to fire Iwata? They cut the salaries for the upper heads from Nintendo by 50%. And did it again a few months ago, due to Nintendos loss. In other companies those people would leave the company and take millions with them. [B] Refusing to compete with Microsoft and Sony? Excuse me, what exactly did they do for the past 20 years? They even left Xbox 360 and PS3 far behind with the Wii sales. And still dominate the handheldmarket.[/B] Mario and co. for PC? What a dreamer! Sega made 3 flop products in a row and were nearly broke. That was their only way to survive. But Nintendo on the other hand made constant win years in a row. They have enough money to survive the Wii U. And enough money to survive for at least another 10 years.[/QUOTE] Just going to address the highlighted part because Nintendo fanboys always bring it up, not saying you are one. The Wii outsold the PS3 and the 360, however the retention rate (i.e. the number of games sold per console) was exceedingly low. The PS3 sold just under 10 games per console, the 360 sold just over 10 games per console, the Wii sold just over [b]1[/b] game per console, shipping the most consoles doesn't mean shit when no one buys games for them.

[QUOTE=Wizards Court;44744818]they deserve it, the hubris of thinking they "don't need to care about what other companies are doing", refusing to compete with sony or microsoft, creating a subpar console, refusing to fire iwata, etc... they're in this solely due to arrogance, if they go the sega way, maybe we'll one day get PC mario, pokemon, zelda games, like we're geting sonic pc games. [url]http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-06-17-iwata-we-dont-care-about-what-other-companies-are-doing[/url][/QUOTE] They said they wouldn't give the franchises they make to anyone else, so if the company goes, the franchises go. I can't find the source, it was like a year ago but I remember them saying something like that.

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;44744812]How many years can they go like this before going bankrupt?[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.gamesradar.com/nintendo-doomed-not-likely-just-take-look-how-much-money-its-got-bank/[/url]

Nintendo will probably unveil their next console sometime next year, they really need to get away from the Wii name, and advertise the damn thing. I kinda wish they'd go back to a more traditional controller too, they really haven't done much with the gamepad so it feels like a lot of wasted potential. The problem with this though is if they go for a traditional controller, they'll have to axe Wii U backwards compatibility or find a way to make the gamepad compatible, there'd also be the problem of having to buy an expensive controller to play those games. Nintendo really put themselves in an awkward situation when it comes to the console market.

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;44744900]Just going to address the highlighted part because Nintendo fanboys always bring it up, not saying you are one. The Wii outsold the PS3 and the 360, however the retention rate (i.e. the number of games sold per console) was exceedingly low. The PS3 sold just under 10 games per console, the 360 sold just over 10 games per console, the Wii sold just over [B]1[/B] game per console, shipping the most consoles doesn't mean shit when no one buys games for them.[/QUOTE] True. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't Sony and Microsoft have a 10 dollar fee on the games that get released on their consoles? Don't they make the most money by having that fee? Nintendo on the other hand produces most of their best selling games in-house. So it gets even on their part. That's why Nintendo has more IPs and franchises to offer.

Wii U was a really fucking terrible choice of name & they should have waited for the "next gen" when ps4/xbone was released and have better hardware than what they released with. Maybe Nintendo can survive until the next gen and make a comeback..

I guess they just have to make a better console that appeals to a larger audience.

[QUOTE=Kegan;44744933]Nintendo will probably unveil their next console sometime next year, they really need to get away from the Wii name, and advertise the damn thing. I kinda wish they'd go back to a more traditional controller too, they really haven't done much with the gamepad so it feels like a lot of wasted potential. The problem with this though is if they go for a traditional controller, they'll have to axe Wii U backwards compatibility or find a way to make the gamepad compatible, there'd also be the problem of having to buy an expensive controller to play those games. Nintendo really put themselves in an awkward situation when it comes to the console market.[/QUOTE] Calling it [B][U]Nintendo GameCube 2[/U][/B] [B][U]THE CONSOLE TO KILL ALL CONSOLES[/U][/B]

They really only lost so much because they way overproduced during the holidays. They thought there would be a massive demand, but there's still no killer app out yet. They just need a high retention rate really, like the gamecube. Nintendo actually made a lot of money with the gamecube due to the very high retention rate. The WiiU already has a high retention rate without any killer apps yet.

[QUOTE=Nintendo-Guy;44744903][url]http://www.gamesradar.com/nintendo-doomed-not-likely-just-take-look-how-much-money-its-got-bank/[/url][/QUOTE] That's what I was asking about, thank you!

[QUOTE=Fatfatfatty;44744972]I guess they just have to make a better console that appeals to a larger audience.[/QUOTE] They would also need to step up & make more of their own games if 3rd parties won't flock over to Nintendo. Why do people ask for a new F-Zero or Star Fox title?

I think starfox would sell well, but FZERO flopped, not sure why people think that nintendo would release 2 racing games to compete.