Nintendo lowers forecast from 55 billion yen profit to 25 billion yen loss

[Arius Dion]

UncleScrooge said:
So it's the worst selling Nintendo console since the Virtual Boy. I don't get why people say Nintendo needs to focus on the core gamers, though - it's the "hardcore" games that flopped: Pikmin 3, Mario 3D World, Wind Waker HD... about the only games that didn't bomb were Wii Party U and Mario Bros. U which is still selling at an insane attach rate so people are actually buying a console to get to that game. The mass market games keep the console somewhat alive, the core games almost killed it.

Life cycles for 3DS and Wii U will be shorter than expected: Next handheld in late 2015, next home console in late 2016. The 3DS peaked already, therefore handheld division profits will be down in 2014 and the home console business is bleeding money right now and will continue to do so in the future. It's impossible to operate profitably that way. They'll need to put new products out there as soon as possible.

What really drags Nintendo down is not the smartphones or tablet or direct competition but their inability to produce hit software. Nintendoland was a bad game, Mario Bros. U was literally the same all over again, 3D World was a step down from Galaxy, Wind Waker was one of the worst selling Zelda titles and yet they made a remake, Wii Fit U's Fit Meter is totally useless in this day and age. At its core this is a problem of software quality. Unfortunately people on gaming message forums don't realize this because their tastes differ from everyone else's.

Exactly right.

I think this shows just how much of a disaster Wii U has been for them. Things have to change. I don't think Iwata being fired would do anything at all. We will see if Nintendo can correctly identify the 'rot' in the company and move to rectify the problems they've bought upon themselves.