What kind of a kindergarten argument is that? Iwata isn't bad, because Hirai is even worse, great and where did I mention the Vita or Kaz in my post? All I said was that Iwata doesn't need to be commended for the 3DS's turnaround, cause anybody in his position at Nintendo would have been able to turn that thing around.

And let me just ask you a question. What do you think, if Iwatas and Kaz' roles were reversed, do you think Iwata would be able to save the Vita or be able to put it in a better position than it is in right now, with the resources Sony has? Do you think Kaz would have been able to achieve the same 3DS result we have right now, with Nintendos resources?

I see this hand get played a lot and I normally counter it with "Ken Kutaragi", but I'll say a little more in-depth of a post right now.

Past successes =/= future stability.  I know, you need something to judge it on.  But look at it from another point of view.  If you were getting a new CEO in, you'd look at what credentials they had in the past and that might not be the best judge, because you'd have no idea how they personally would work at the helm of Nintendo.  Maybe they'd carry on their winning streak; maybe they wouldn't be a good fit.

Iwata is at the helm of Nintendo right now.  His decisions are shaping the company.  We don't really need to look at his past successes because we're not throwing him at the deep end with no experience at running this type of gaming company.  He has been doing it for the past 12 (?) years.  You can look at what he is doing right now (and to an extent, what his plans are for the immediate-to-mid-term future) to judge.

And basing on that alone, he really doesn't deserve to be where he is.

I think you missed the point. Never said that Iwata is better than Kaz because Kaz is worse, that was not the point. Is just a very simple example of what a good strategy and good business planing is vs. something that is not. Could have changed that with different products from different companies.

@bold, how can you be so sure about that. Another CEO would have cut his own salary? secure MH 4? you don't know and I don't know either, and just simple saying "common sense" isn't something you can say when talking about business, because even if something is "obvious"  it doesn't mean you can do said thing at the moment or ever. 

What I said above answers your question, depending on your resources, you might be able to something or not. What is more important for your business? What your shareholders want? etc. Would Iwata be able to turn the Vita around? maybe, maybe not, impossible to say. 

My argument is very clear, Iwata made some very good decisions with the 3DS, and, yes, he was the reason the 3DS made a comeback. Another person could have done it? I don't know and neither do you.

I already said that I don't agree with his current business strategies. What I'm arguing the most is that, if it wasn't for him, Nintendo would be in a much worse situation. That is pretty much a fact, but it doesn't justify his current problems. 

I also think he has made some very good decisions regarding the 3DS, where he has completely drop the ball is with the Wii U. He has some recent successes, not everything he has done is bad. 

I didn't say that in my comment at all. My comment was only about stocks-- not Nintendo as a whole, but I also don't think 2014 will be a bright year for Nintendo. This is their third year in a row losing money and the only things to have affected Nintendo's stock prices in the past year were a cheaper Yen and the news of China lifting the console ban. Buy the stock at 15.24 (at the time his comment was posted) and hoping stock prices go back up to 17.50 sometime in the next year isn't a great investment. I'm only an economy student - so IDK. I'd like to hear what the stock-savvy posters think.

Oh, absolutely, and I get that.  He created an absolute revolution for Nintendo in the previous generation and he deserves commending for that.

But sadly, that's just that - a commendation.  This is business, after all.  Sometimes a drastic change is required for good. 

Not that I'm saying this is a be-all-end-all bad result today.  Just merely that it's a culmination of the current direction being stubbornly steadfast despite multiple problems persisting for years upon years and never really being resolved (e.g. Is it really okay in 2014 to be missing a unified account system?  Is it really acceptable to hear "We won't have a software drought at the launch of our next console" for the 4th time?).  It would be for reasons like those that I'd be baying for change.

I never understood the surge that took place after China opened up. I just used it as an opportunity to off load my own shares of Nintendo fully expecting the crush to come by end of Jan Q3 results :)

Thats odd you go on my post and say its assumptions and here you are assuming Iwata would have been the best option.  What if the person who was not iwata had a medicore/average 7th gen and a robust 8th gen?

When did I say Iwata would have been the best option? He was the one who made the decisions at the time, could have been anyone else.

Iwata needs to get his shit together.