UncleScrooge said:
I know that's how Nintendo makes money but they have a huge amount of expenses to cover (workforce, marketing, software development, etc.) and they can't cover these expenses without a healthy hardware business. Nintendo layed off dozens of employees in its european subsidiary this year and they'll have to continue to cut costs. I get the sell the hardware at a profit but I doubt that games like Pikmin, Bayonetta, Wonderful 101, etc. turn a profit with sales that low. Low hardware sales cause low software sales. That's why Nintendo has been in financial trouble the last 3 years and this is going to get worse in the future with hardware sales dropping further. Again, I'm not trying to be overly negative here but a company as big as Nintendo needs a certain level of revenue to cover its expenses and they can't lay off their development stuff to stop the money bleeding. I'm sure they'll be fine but Nintendo has had the tendency to overestimate the performance of its products lately, so they might have to release their next handheld sooner than they think right now to keep sales up. That's all I'm saying. |
U said 3DS down massively YoY despite a redesign, my point is that the redesign released in the final quarter, u can't expect it to offset the massive decline from the first 3 quarters of the year. If it released in the first half of the year, u would have a point but currently all we know is that New 3DS stopped a 50% YoY decline and was flat over the holidays. We have to wait and see how sales are in the coming weeks to see if the redesign will have an extended effect or was it a temporary boost.
Nintendo is expected to post a healthy profit this fiscal year despite not having exceptionally strong hardware sales because of the things listed above. It's very likely they can keep posing profits from 3DS/Wii U for the next 2-3 years until they are ready for their next-gen hardware to release.
When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.