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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Nintendo CEO Seen Missing Profit Target as Wii U Founders

Otakumegane on 23 April 2013

The thing is, I'm fearful that if Iwata really does get fired, the next CEO is going to be some random ass guy that knows nothing about gaming and decides to go mobile or something.

Either that or he demands a FPS shooter made by EAD.

Seriously though, who replaces Iwata? It can't be some random American dude.



http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/profile/92109/nintendopie/ Nintendopie  Was obviously right and I was obviously wrong. I will forever be a lesser being than them. (6/16/13)

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Mnementh on 23 April 2013
Soundwave said:

I think Miyamoto is part of the problem too, he's been given a lot of autonomy to handle EAD entirely as he wants and dictates a lot of Nintendo's overall policies IMO from his position on the board of directors.

The board needs to be shaken up completely. Miyamoto should step back and just work on his own projects and let the rest of Nintendo evolve and adapt into a more modern sensibility. They are being run into the ground by a bunch late 50s/60 year old Japanese men that are far too slow and out of touch.

I agree on Miyamoto. He is a great game-designer, but that isn't becessarily a great manager. Another one should do the overview or he shouldn't get that autonomity in this.



3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

10 years greatest game event!

bets: [peak year] [+], [1], [2], [3], [4]

BossPuma on 23 April 2013
Otakumegane said:
BossPuma said:
Otakumegane said:
I still think firing Iwata now is a bit risky. Who will do Nintendo Directs? It just won't be the same.

I mean the man turned the 3DS around. Let's wait another year or so.


I think Reggie would do a good job at the Nintendo Direct since a lot of people already like him

We make fun of him. We don't really "Like" him. Iwata's just lovable. 

(Though I wouldn't mind it if Miyamoto did them, but he must be too busy working on his new IP.)


Well i like reggie, he's kinda weird but thats fine with me.

I think Miyamoto has a harder time speaking in english though.



Mnementh on 23 April 2013
Cyrus_ATX said:

 

Nintendo CEO Seen Missing Profit Target as Wii U Founders

 

Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata has pledged that the “Super Mario” game creator will post a 100 billion-yen ($1 billion) operating profit this fiscal year as new software titles boost sales. Analysts say he’ll fail.

Iwata will announce a second straight annual loss tomorrow, losing 18.7 billion yen in the 12 months ended March 31, according to the average of 15 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. For the year started April 1, Nintendo may post operating income of 70 billion-yen, according to the average of 19 estimates -- short of a target he said was a personal “commitment.”

Nintendo’s Wii U, its first new home-gaming console since 2006, is failing to meet sales targets amid a delay to software releases that Iwata said were crucial to winning over consumers who increasingly play games on smartphones and tablet computers. Sony Corp. (6758) and Microsoft Corp. are also preparing to release upgraded consoles this year, adding pressure on the 53-year-old executive who has been in the role since 2002.

“Iwata hasn’t produced good results in recent years,” said Hideki Yasuda, a Tokyo-based analyst at Ace Securities Co. in Tokyo. “He can’t avoid being criticized.”

Yasuda rates the stock neutral, or hold. Only 4 of 20 analysts tracked by Bloomberg recommend buying Nintendo shares, while 13 recommend holding them and 3 recommend investors sell.

Yasuhiro Minagawa, a spokesman for Kyoto-based Nintendo, declined to comment on the difference between its commitment and analysts’ forecasts. The company will release earnings after the close of trade tomorrow.

Analyst Estimates

Nintendo rose 0.8 percent to 11,630 yen yesterday and has gained 27 percent this year, compared with a 31 percent surge in Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average. Sony has jumped 71 percent.

Even as a weaker yen boosts the repatriated value of overseas earnings for Japanese exporters such as Nintendo, it may not be enough to meet Iwata’s profit target as the Wii U struggles to gain traction.

“I don’t think Nintendo can achieve 100 billion yen,” said Yoshikazu Shimada, an analyst at Tachibana Securities Co. “It’s hard for Nintendo to meet the target despite the weak yen’s tailwind.”

To help win back gamers from mobile devices, the company last year released the Wii U that combines TV screen action with a touch-screen controller in the company’s first new console since the original Wii was released in 2006.

Mistake Repeated

To avoid repeating the mistake Nintendo made with its 3DS handheld player, which had its price cut within six months of a 2011 debut on a lack of software, Iwata promised to keep the pipeline of games for the Wii U strong.

Preparing software would drive demand for hardware such as the Wii U, Iwata said in June before the machine’s debut.

He couldn’t maintain it as Nintendo halted new software for the Wii U at the start of this year because of development delays, Iwata said Jan. 31.

In Japan, the release of “Pikmin 3” in Japan is delayed to July from this spring, according to the company’s announcements. “Game & Wario” was pushed back to March 28 from the beginning of the year.

“He has been one step behind in some strategic points,” said Eiji Maeda, an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. “Contents are important to increase game fans. But Nintendo couldn’t provide game titles.”

The company may have sold 3.5 million Wii Us last financial year, missing its target of 4 million, Takeshi Koyama, a Tokyo- based analyst at Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (8411), said in a report April 16. The company may sell 9 million units this fiscal year, he said.

Sony, Microsoft

Nintendo also faces tougher competition for game players from rival console makers in a market that is shrinking amid the shift to mobile devices.

Sony said in February it will release a Playstation 4 before the year-end holiday season, its first upgrade in seven years. Microsoft may unveil the successor to its Xbox 360 at the gaming industry’s E3 expo in June or a separate event in May, three people familiar with the plans said this month.

U.S. retail sales of video-game hardware, software and accessories fell 10 percent to $992.5 million last month, according to researcher NPD Group Inc. Hardware sales fell the most, declining 32 percent compared with a year ago, Port Washington, New York-based NPD said in April 18 e-mailed statement.

Sliding Yen

While Nintendo struggles with its main business, a weakening of the yen may give some relief, as it boosts the value of overseas earnings. The Japanese currency has depreciated about 13 percent against the U.S. dollar this year and touched a four-year low of 99.95 on April 11.

That may enable the company to post net income of 14 billion yen tomorrow, the company said in January.

While the currency helps, refreshing the game development pipeline is critical to a sustained turnaround, with Nintendo planning to add titles including the “Pikmin 3” and “Wii Fit U.”

“Nintendo can achieve the target if it can release the game softwares as planned,” said Yasuda at Ace Securities.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-22/nintendo-ceo-seen-missing-profit-target-as-wii-u-founders.html

 

Oh, I forgot: dooooooom.



3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

10 years greatest game event!

bets: [peak year] [+], [1], [2], [3], [4]

aikohualda on 23 April 2013

i belive in the power of 3ds in 2013!!!
at least 10,000,000 pokemon games by the end of the year will be a big slice of it...



 

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DaRev on 23 April 2013
curl-6 said:
DaRev said:
People seem to forget that Nintendo is the hardest working console, handheld and software developer in the whole video game industry. It takes time to be successful, and some years while you're making hardware and software you will see some losses. What does these dumb ass analist expect, a profit every single year?

I can accept taking a hit in 2011 and 2012 when the Wii U was in production, but they had those two years to make sure software was ready for it, and their failure to do so is the reason for the Wii U's current state.

Well, so far as 3rd parties are concerned, you can't place all the blame at Nintendo's feet. For example, Sega made a mess of Aliens CM and Ubisoft made a hard business decisions with regards Rayman, which I think were two games Nintendo was expecting to hold the fort till MH3U and Lego City came on board. But these 3rd parties have been messing Nintendo around, and Nintendo simply has no control over such things, so you can't really place all the blame on Nintendo for a gap in software releases. And don't me started on these other 3rd parties like 2K Games (Bioshock) that refuse to bring their games to WiiU. I sometimes wish they all go broke like THQ for talking shit about Nintendo.

Anyways, I believe Nintendo is working extremely hard to get the games out, but it takes time to make good games, and even more time when you don't have 3rd party help. It's also clear that Nintendo is listening to its fans and acting accordingly and is making the effort. What they are not doing is kissing anyone's ass in the process.

In the interim, today I plan to enjoy my WiiU VC and I will be a happy man.

 



Nintendo Network ID: DaRevren

I love My Wii U, and the potential it brings to gaming.

TheLastStarFighter on 23 April 2013

As an investor I'm a huge fan of Iwata and Miyamoto. I think their strategies are excellent on many levels. Low-cost hardware, very powerful brands and games that sell millions while being relatively cheap to produce.

I'm very pleased, obviously, with the 3DS strategy. It should turn massive profits for this coming year and has managed to thrive despite Sony, smartphones and tablets. Bringing MH to the system basically killed their within-market competition, enabling them to fight the outsiders.

With Wii U I am pleased as well, though it has a greater challeng ahead. I think the cheap hardware was wise, and I think the touchscreen interface will also appeal to mass market in time more than more ram or processing ever would. Where I do see some mistakes with Wii U are in Nintendoland - which was poorly named and thought out, in NSMBU - which I thought was a good idea for a launch title but should have had some better features (play as Peach?)/visuals to differentiate it, and in the western marketing of the system, which has been awful.

But I think with Wii U the strategy was to launch early with some easy to make games, work out the bugs in the system, and give their developers a full extra year to make high-end impressive games to launch at the same time Sony and MS competitors release. I liked this strategy and I still like it. I'm expect surprising and interesting announcements about Wii U at e3, and the system to get a major push in the second half of the year.

With a very strong year expected for 3DS it will only take a moderately successful year from Wii U for Nintendo to meet Iwata's goals. Quite honestly, it seems silly to not expect Nintendo to post a significant profit this year when you look at their history, and how 3DS is doing and should do. Wii U would have to completely bomb or dropped to a major loss-inducing price for the company to come up short.



DaRev on 23 April 2013
Mnementh said:
Soundwave said:

I think Miyamoto is part of the problem too, he's been given a lot of autonomy to handle EAD entirely as he wants and dictates a lot of Nintendo's overall policies IMO from his position on the board of directors.

The board needs to be shaken up completely. Miyamoto should step back and just work on his own projects and let the rest of Nintendo evolve and adapt into a more modern sensibility. They are being run into the ground by a bunch late 50s/60 year old Japanese men that are far too slow and out of touch.

I agree on Miyamoto. He is a great game-designer, but that isn't becessarily a great manager. Another one should do the overview or he shouldn't get that autonomity in this.

Agreed, with both of you. Nintendo needs some young(er) dude up in there that will demand at least one or two FPS a year that is not a Metroid Prime and not a 3rd party game. Meanwhile, Miyamoto can keep getting his inspiration from his garden or wherever, but some part of the Nintendo game making machine needs to be up to the times and tasked with making games for a current and more mature generation of gamers.



Nintendo Network ID: DaRevren

I love My Wii U, and the potential it brings to gaming.

Mr Khan on 23 April 2013
Otakumegane said:
The thing is, I'm fearful that if Iwata really does get fired, the next CEO is going to be some random ass guy that knows nothing about gaming and decides to go mobile or something.

Either that or he demands a FPS shooter made by EAD.

Seriously though, who replaces Iwata? It can't be some random American dude.

This is what i've been saying the whole time. They would either get some business school type whose first move would be to dump the entire virtual console back catalogue onto the App Store, or somebody from EAD who would be yet worse on the "game development takes as long as it takes" line.



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

curl-6 on 23 April 2013
DaRev said:
curl-6 said:
DaRev said:
People seem to forget that Nintendo is the hardest working console, handheld and software developer in the whole video game industry. It takes time to be successful, and some years while you're making hardware and software you will see some losses. What does these dumb ass analist expect, a profit every single year?

I can accept taking a hit in 2011 and 2012 when the Wii U was in production, but they had those two years to make sure software was ready for it, and their failure to do so is the reason for the Wii U's current state.

Well, so far as 3rd parties are concerned, you can't place all the blame at Nintendo's feet. For example, Sega made a mess of Aliens CM and Ubisoft made a hard business decisions with regards Rayman, which I think were two games Nintendo was expecting to hold the fort till MH3U and Lego City came on board. But these 3rd parties have been messing Nintendo around, and Nintendo simply has no control over such things, so you can't really place all the blame on Nintendo for a gap in software releases. And don't me started on these other 3rd parties like 2K Games (Bioshock) that refuse to bring their games to WiiU. I sometimes wish they all go broke like THQ for talking shit about Nintendo.

Anyways, I believe Nintendo is working extremely hard to get the games out, but it takes time to make good games, and even more time when you don't have 3rd party help. It's also clear that Nintendo is listening to its fans and acting accordingly and is making the effort. What they are not doing is kissing anyone's ass in the process.

Maybe they should have, if it would've gotten more games on the system.