I expect the 3DS to see a huge rise in sales this year and keep momentum going.

Wii U might not be the next Wii but sales should increase eventually. Plus, DS didn't start out all that amazing but we all know how that went.

Wouldn't dropping price not be a great move either? Are they making a lot on each console?

Why would a falling stock price affect their cashflow? Investors don't really 'invest' in a company except when stock is issued for the first time.

Where are you getting the idea that a missed projection leads to people getting fired? Nintendo and Sony have both been consistently missing all their hardware projections for all platforms for a couple of years now and nobody's got fired yet. It's not a good thing, but it certainly ain't earth-shattering.

And yes, I mentioned Sony just because you told me not to. :P My point stands regardless, though.

Also, I think it's well-known that Nintendo has billions of dollars to fall back on. At least, that's what everyone has been telling me for years now.

It's proving a bit difficult to dig up old financial reports among the haystack of very recent reports. What I have is this article from last year showing Nintendo dropping their sales projections for the 3DS from 16 million to 14 million; then, in Nintendo's 2012 financial report, they revealed that 3DS hardware sales were 13.53 million units. Wii sales projections were dropped from 12 million to 10 million, and wound up being 9.84 million. I don't recall any major changes in management last year.

A good point - it changes the value of the company, and that makes it harder for the company to find investors/external sources of income.

That is an insane amount of capital for any company to possess. With that much money they should be ok, but it will be hit due to the vast cost of developing new products.

It is very simple what the Wii U's problem is. No games have come out for it in months. This is where Nintendo dropped the ball. If someone doesn't buy a Wii U in December if it is in stock, that means one of two things. A game didn't release that the buyer values enough to justify the price, or the person doesn't have enough money at that time to buy it. Since no games have come out since late December, all sales have been from people that only now can afford to buy the system.

Stocks are traded for the benefit of the shareholders. Company really only participates via IPOs, secondary offerings, or nibble via share buybacks. Nintendo has very little outside debt and ample cash. Even if stocks are manipulated below book value, company is not going under as the OP implies. Companies regularly are taken private and delisted in leveraged buyouts, for example.

Nintendo's woes are more image related than economical as Wii U sales are projected to produce a loss each time a unit is made. As can be seen with 3DS, Nintendo was startled and scared into a frenzy, which resulted in now a banner 2013 in terms of software lineup. In the future, console after this, Nintendo will strive to have titles that are more easily ported and hardware that more easily allows cross platform ports or simultaneous release. This allows a bigger Nintendo userbase for 3rd parties, but more likely, allows Nintendo to have a much more reliable 1st party release schedule.

With Wii U, Nintendo is writing and riding its own fortunes. Their success with 1st party software will determine if Wii U can experience a 3DS like resurgence, a less than broadly appealing but profitable dedicated Nintendo IP machine, or an outright push for a new console in a few years time if performance stays bismal.

Stock wise, there is not much problem as the disppointing prices may prove disheartening to shareholders but the company itself faces no danger. Management change is always going to happen, success or not. I personally have a hard time seeing this 4th quarter doing Iwata in, as his 2013 "guarantee" on 100 billion yen profit already bought himself through this holiday season.

it would be like when Sony did it but without as big a loss. i think Ninty is out $40 for each console sold. it really depends on what Ninty wants to accomplish. do they want to increase sales, or make profit.

i think Nintendo can hold off on a pricedrop but i don't think they will.

i think it was said they make profit when 2 games are sold with every console.

They do. Many Billions (in US $), in fact.