Topic: The Fall of Nintendo.. ?

You would be happy, because Nintendo would suddenly find the resources it has to work with would increase by a factor of 1000. Which means better games, better services for the consoles... better everything, really.

Yeah yeah but I just really REALLY dislike Apple a lot. Now I love Nintendo to an equal degree but I feel like they would just be....different if they were under another company. Sure for the forst year or so they would be the same old Nintendo but I feel like slowly they would change into something more...Apple-y.

You know if 3DS had more games, cheaper, and didn't delay eshop, 3DS would of been top seller. Now we have to wait for Christmas for that to happen . P.S. I know a lot of people want 3DS, they're just waiting for more games or a price drop.

Nintendo has been raking in the cash seemingly effortlessly for about five years now. At the moment they're at a point of uncertainty: the 3DS launch was underwhelming, their biggest cash cows (the Wii and DS) are being phased out and they have a new system to push onto the market next year. Even with all of this taken into account I still doubt Nintendo is in serious trouble. They may be looking at significantly lower profits than the height of Wii mania brought them for the next for few years, but they'll survive. _{Even though they may not be able to hold onto market leader position}

I wrote an opinion piece for my website. I'll copy/ paste it here to save myself making the same points again here:

As most of us know by now, Nintendo posted a very negative financial quarter. The hysteria that has come with it from many corners is deeply misguided, however.

The long and short of it is this – the value of Nintendo’s stock dropped in value by around 20 per cent, the company posted huge loses ($323 million), and has spurred the company’s management to accept pay cuts. Economic firms, such as JPMorgan and Nomura Holdings have lowered their ratings on Nintendo’s stock as well.

It’s true that the company faces some challenges ahead. Nintendo is facing increasing competition by both Facebook and Apple for the ‘casual’ gaming audience, who have flocked to those platforms, in the process making Zynga one of the biggest publishers in the world, and making Apple’s gaming section the de facto place for indie developers to release games. The likes of EA, through its acquisition strategy (iOS and social gaming companies, largely), are clearly putting more weight in the mobile gaming space than in Nintendo. This competition is undoubtedly affecting Nintendo hardware sales – the 3DS only shifted 700,000 units in the past three months worldwide.

The Nintendo Wii U console failed to ignite as much interest as Nintendo would have liked when it was unveiled at E3, either. Indeed, Nintendo’s plan to draw back the ‘core’ gaming audience proved to be a difficult one for investors to resolve – heading back into a head-on-head competition with Sony and Microsoft dropped Nintendo’s share value back in June.

But here’s the thing that a lot of the games press managed to miss, but it’s absolutely critical in explaining what is happening to Nintendo right now: Nintendo is a corporation working in the global economy. Consider this article from Bloomberg for an instant: Asian stocks across the board took a hit as investors showed concern of the US debt deadlock. The too-strong yen has also had a deep impact on the profitability of Japanese vendors.

None of that has nothing to do with 3DS sales or whether a Mario game is coming out before Christmas. A company’s share price is not related solely to the products it sells, and by floating, you put a company at the mercy of the broader macroeconomic climate. That climate is stormy for just about everyone right now, so everyone (not just Nintendo) is reaching for the raincoats right now.

Furthermore, Japanese companies across the board are in a period of recovery from the devastating earthquake that hit earlier this year - an earthquake that damaged supply lines, slowed the country's productivity, and greatly disrupted the luxuries industries (of which gaming is one). Camera maker, Canon, recently posted financial losses of its own, and blamed the deflated Japanese games market for the setback. Nintendo would be in a similar position – Japan is the second largest games market in the world, and unlike Microsoft, Nintendo relies on it heavily for profitability. A deflation in that market is going to have a substantial impact on Nintendo’s own profitability.

I’ll finish on this note: Corporations post losses. It’s a fact of life that a company cannot sustain growth indefinantely. Nintendo has lost some ground with the casual gamer, but I don’t see that as a problem, necessarily – the casual gamer is a fickle audience, as the flight to Zynga and Apple has shown. I see the stock and profit drop in Nintendo as more of a normalising process; i.e bringing the company back to the position it is actually in, rather than the hyperinflated value the company hit when the Wii and DS took off way beyond expectations.

So no, I don’t agree with the doom and gloom hysteria over this news at all. I still believe Nintendo is a company that would enjoy better fortunes going forward by being acquired, but claiming the company is ‘falling’ is just silly stuff.

This thread is absolutely stunning. Nintendo isn't doing as great as expected with the 3DS and people are already talking about Nintendo being taken over by Microsoft or Apple. Come on guys. Nintendo has earned mountains of money with the Wii and DS the last couple of years. And it's games are still dominating the sales list. So disappointing sales for 3DS (for which Nintendo can only blame themself) is just a small bump in the road which is already corrected by the price drop and the strong line up for the end of the year.

That probably sums up the situation in as short of a sentence as you can get. No need for all for all of the hand wringing unless Nintendo keeps posting successive losses every quarter though a prolonged period.

How?

exactly as much as I love Apple, I would hate my Nintendo games to be watered down

Clearly around Christmas Nintendo is going to go on a marketing bonanza "hey listen! come get your free Pokedex!"

Navi voice and all.

exactly as much as I love Apple, I would hate my Nintendo games to be watered down

It wouldn't happen that way. People get too frightened about acquisition. It most cases, it really is a good thing for everyone - both companies involved and the consumer.

That's the main reason I hoped Nintendo would focus more on the hardcore gamers with this new console rather than what it feels like they did, at least from the early demos of the system. Nothing they showed me at E3 really convinced me that they were trying to make "core" gamers more of a focus with this new console. Now maybe that changes over the next several months, but I'm just not seeing it yet.

I'm gonna have to agree with you, Corbs. They did way more in their press conference than they did on the show floor. All of the Wii U tech demos were very reminiscent of the Wii Sports/Wii Play minigames, and Ghost Recon was off to the side like a kind of afterthought.

exactly as much as I love Apple, I would hate my Nintendo games to be watered down

It wouldn't happen that way. People get too frightened about acquisition. It most cases, it really is a good thing for everyone - both companies involved and the consumer.

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I guess but IMHO SSF4 3D > SSF4 iPhone. I dont care about the tech used I just care about Gameplay, I wish it was 1990 again and people would stop thinking, if its not tech heavy its bad

I guess but IMHO SSF4 3D > SSF4 iPhone. I dont care about the tech used I just care about Gameplay

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What does Capcom have to do with this?

LOL one system "fails" (doesn't meet high standards) and now Nintendo is doomed? They will be acquired? How about we just wait and see. Nintendo has proven itself to be a smart enough company to not just blow their entire company in one night, with one "failing" console. The price cut, along with two Mario games will more than drag the 3DS out from its "failure"-ridden hole. When kids ask for the new Mario game, their parents will go out and buy it. They will see the 3DS logo on it, and whether or not they are astute enough to realize it is for a different console, they will buy the game, and eventually, the console. I know I should expect the internet to be melodramatic, but this is a little over the top.

What does Capcom have to do with this?

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nothing about Capcom, but the fact that the iPhone version was weaker IMHO, might mean Nintendos games would be as well, like an iPhone Nintendo game of a DS one, the DS one being more powerful

Nintendo's not going to disappear anytime soon.

Quoted for the epic truth.

Thanks guys. I'm really impressed with the good points being brought up. I've just been hanging around too much microsoft/sony fanboys who've started to convince me nintendo will fail.
The 3ds will hit it's stride very soon I believe.
The wii U will (in my opinion) be a hit. Several of my friends who play CoD like games even want a wii u so they won't have to choose between classic nintendo franchises and CoD like games.
Here's a more optimistic Kirazy hoping!

I have no reason to worry for Nintendo, The only reason things are the way they are right now is because the lack of 1st party titles. When all those great games come out this holiday, the sales are bound to pick up. Same goes for the WiiU, when people see how awesome the next 1st party title is on thw WiiU, skeptics will become believers, stocks will be returned to their former glory. Nintendos had many rough patches. Virtual Boy, DSiShop, etc. Nut they always come out stronger. And for those who are pissed about the fact no great games are coming to virtual console. remember, the ESRB has to rerat all of them. Which is why games like Qix and Alleyway came sooner. I jus found out Pokemon Yellow and Kid Icarus: Of Myths zand Monsters are both being processed by the ESRB now. It takes time, and sucks fo the players, but its required.