Uh.... not necessarily?  They're basing the 1billion yet profit on the strength of 3DS in western markets with the release of Animal Crossing and Pokemon X/Y, and they're probaby assuming they won't need to cut the price of Wii U based on the strength of the upcoming software lineup.

If 3DS continues to climb, and software and hardware sales show good YoY increases in the west, and they can avoid a Wii U price cut on the strength of Wind Waker, DKC, and 3D World, then they should be able to come close, and possibly exceed their targets.  I don't think the "1 billion yen profit" commitment was made in jest.

Surely, Iwata would come under great pressure next January if it becomes clear they cannot reach their goal.  He's not saying so right now, obviously, because they still hope they can make their goal. 

Reason why I don't take investors meeting to heart. Moreso with our asian brothers, even the japanese themselves misunderstand each other... :/

He won't jump but will be pushed next year I think. And it's my opinion he should go too.

The problem stems from poor planning and resource management, which as President and CEO, more or less falls at Iwata's feet. It's one thing to say he's a cool guy with a previously strong track record, but he is not doing a good job of guiding the company right now.

I think Iwata has done a pretty good job with Nintendo. The DS and the Wii were very tough successes to follow up on, and that he managed to do it with at least one is impressive, and I seriously think the Wii U still has a chance to sell as many lifetime units as the Wii did last gen.

My problem is that he still makes talky-down games for kids. It's not like I want an M-rated Mario game with blood, sex, and guts (although that would definitely be interesting) but that I want something like Batman: The Animated Series. Something clean and energetic enough for kids, but complex and subtle enough for me to enjoy as an adult. Nintendo doesn't really deliver on that too often. Practically the only series that does this somewhat regularly is Zelda.

That is a bit harsh.

But yeah, theres room for improvement.

I think Iwata deserves time to see this through. During his reign we have seen the ultra successful Wii, DS, and a now strong showing from the 3DS. Wii U isnt doing too good at present, but its early days and this gen hasnt really started yet. There is plenty of time to turn things around, look at 3DS and PS3 fortunes these days.

I don't think he needs to be completely gone from Nintendo or anything, I'd like to see him stay on, but I think he needs help and doesn't understand the Western market and is also to beholden to the whims of what Miyamoto wants.

NOA should be given more autonomy to help the company, like Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa were. There would be no Retro Studios, no GoldenEye, no Donkey Kong Country, no Star Wars games, etc. without them, they spear headed all those initiatives, today NCL doesn't allow NOA to do anything.

I'm going to quote this too because I can see people continuing to talk as though the initial 'quote' was correct and this doesn't exist.

Iwata reigned over Nintendo's most successful years, calling for his blood after 1-2 poor years (years between console generations are always lower on profit anyway) is premature.

Nintendo's been decling for about 4 years now from the peak days of the Wii/DS and he's botched both the 3DS and Wii U launches despite having ample time to learn from his mistakes. Ken Kutaragi was given the axe after a few months of the PS3, even though he basically built the entire Playstation division and the PS1 + PS2 sold 250+ million consoles worldwide.

I agree he should be given some slack, but I think he should also acknowledge he needs some help as he's obviously made several poor decisions in guiding the company since the Wii peaked in 2009 or so and consequently put the company in bad positions with both the 3DS and again with the Wii U.

There should not be such wild highs and lows, of the Wii being the fastest selling console ever for its first few years, to then rapidly declining, and then the successor to Wii being basically the slowest selling console out of the gate since the Dreamcast or Saturn. Unacceptable, especially when they had years to prep for this launch.