Topic: Disney can save Nintendo, and it would only cost $19 billion (Article)

A foreign company can buy a Japanese one, it's just a lot harder.

Not only that but they published that article after a few Wii U games had already beaten the number they were "estimating" Mario Kart would hit. They were predicting something like 1.3mill lifetime sales for Mario Kart when 3D World had already pushed past 1.5mill. And if they had actually looked at previous numbers they would have known that Mario Kart tends to sell either similar numbers or significantly better than Mario. Exceptions being the SNES and New SMB on the DS. Plus there was the most relevant version, Mario Kart Wii, which sold something like 3x as many copies as Galaxy.

I reckon even if they were being pessimistic, even if they assumed the Wii U was going to slow to a halt, their guess should have been higher. They should have been at least saying something like 4mill in order to look at least marginally credible.

So what, someone told you this and you just believed it without question?

Yes, foreign companies can buy Japanese companies. Next time, do 2 minutes of research before calling people morons.

I just want a Metroid movie. Oh, and a reboot of the Pokémon anime, with a new lead. Thank you.

This article has so many flaws.

"Only 19 billion" - Yeah, not sure Disney would be interested in this especially after buying Marvel and LucasArts not that long ago. Plus Disney would have extra hoops to jump through since they're an American company buying a Japanese company.

A CGI Metroid movie sounds awesome. I myself would love a Pixar style Earthbound movie. But Disney doesn't need to buy Nintendo for these movies to happen.

The author is making a mountain out of a molehill regarding Nintendo's financial situation as well.

I personally am one of the people that hates Disney, and all they do. Benevolent owners they are not. Of course, the whole article is bum scoop, but if we pretend that any of it is true, and Disney were to buy Nintendo, they would ruin it. I can see them really ruining the IPs, like Mario and Zelda and Metroid. I can see them stopping their hardware division, and focusing on software only.

I remember when there was talk of Disney out-right buying Studio Ghibli, and I almost cried. The fact that the best Pixar movies came before the Disney acquisition speaks for itself. Marvel's IPs aren't better off with Disney owning them, and I can't see good things for the next Star Wars (even though there is some hope with JJ Abrams directing). In a nutshell, Disney would ruin Nintendo.

I, however, am also all for a collaboration of some sort. I think a Nintendo-themed section of a theme park would be fantastic, or even an entire stand-alone theme park. However, to be honest, I think Nintendo would be better off going with Universal, like Harry Potter did.

On the topic of IGN, Polygon, and other video-game/electronic entertainment websites, I think the time has long passed from the days where you could get REAL, UNBIASED Nintendo news on any of them. Just a scroll through the main pages of any of those "major" websites, you can see almost zero Nintendo news articles, or anything related to their games. The last time I went to Polygon, there was exactly ONE Nintendo article on their front page, and it was Smash-related, and it was drowned out by everything Call of Duty. Same with the rest of those sites. And in the event there is an article, it's usually doom/gloom, a sub-par review, or some other nonsense.

I remember when wii.ign.com was on my most-frequented websites list, but that is no longer the case. With Bozon and even Cassamassina gone, IGN's Nintendo channel went downhill fast. Even Bozon and Cass had some issues, but at least you could tell they were Nintendo fans, even if they were dissatisfied with the direction Nintendo took with the Wii.

I haven't gone to any of those "gaming" websites since the middle years of the Wii because they tended to be unfavorably biased towards Nintendo and the Wii. They either didn't cover the Wii, or covered it only negatively. It's the reason I stopped reading Game Informer or going to Gamespot at all (the fact Gamespot gave Bayonetta 2 a 10 was one of the biggest shocks of my gaming life). I remember having to get a subscription to Nintendo magazine AND Game Informer just so I could get ANY Nintendo news/reviews/info on the upcoming games.

I don't know if this is in the past, or if this trend continues, because I simply don't have time to check out those websites anymore, and sift through the filth just to get to the nuggets of worth-while information. That's why I only go to Nintendocentric websites. If I only care about Nintendo news, there's no point in going to Polygon, IGN, or any other website.

Yeah, the author conveniently ignored Nintendo's last financial report. They actually profitted this quarter. But nah, let's use the old financial report from the previous quarter

Nice catch. I knew something was off about that part. I remembered the Marvel films being successful before Disney bought them out, but the success continued afterwards.

fixed

I wanted Nintendo to work with Disney on animated films but after seeing the amazingness Miyamoto is able to do by himself on the Pikmin Short Films I'd rather see more of that!

The article would at least be more intresting if they took it in another direction of say "Apple can save Nintendo" (not that I'm saying they would "save" Ninty) and talk about games and consoles rather than Disney making Ninty theme park, movies and merch (which Ninty could do on their own) and focus on the core buisness.

Stuff disney, Studio Ghibli is the one to colaborate with

Doesn't Nintendo have to be in trouble before someone can save them!

@crimsoncavalier

Regarding Star Wars movie aside, the novels and TV series released so far under the Disney universe have been really good and they seem to be letting lucasfilm run as its own separate entity.

The article misses the point, that unlike Marvel or Pixar or LucasArts, Nintendo is Japanese.
It's a whole different ball game.
Personally though I'd love it to happen from an investing point of view, and I think it will make Nintendo's properties stronger in the long run. This is not about saving Nintendo (which is indeed stupid) or about how it will help Nintendo's games if they can use Disney characters, it has nothing to do with that, nor with the fact that the article got many things wrong... it's about a business getting a really lucrative offer. Still, with the Japan differences it is not likely to ever happen.

i would be so sad to see all these great franchises ruined by hollywood. i was glad a metal gear movie was never made. video games are a better medium than movies anyway.

To what end though, there's little in it for either of them. Nintendo is already well placed to make best-selling, critically acclaimed games. They have the IP, talent and cash reserves to do that. At the other end of the spectrum Disney, particularly now that have Pixar, are well placed to do the same with film and in particular animated movies. Nintendo wouldn't add anything to Disney's content and Disney wouldn't add anything to Nintendo's content. So in what way is it a "really lucrative offer"? It really doesn't make sense for either of them.

No.

I would LOVE to see a collaboration project from them, though.

Money. Nintendo has an asset that is called Nintendo shares. All the executives have stock, and the major shareholders have stock. Disney will offer a substantial premium over the market price. Nintendo (and the rest of the shareholders) will make a big profit. That's how these things work. As for Disney, they'll be getting huge IP, that fits them directly - Mario is right there with Mickey. They want to use it like the article explains. Simple.

@dumedum
Nintendo isn't a startup and they have little to actually gain from such a takeover. They have the cash reserves and being acquired by Disney wouldn't exactly expand their business. If Nintendo wanted to get into making film then the better move would be to buy out some Japanese studio and go in that direction. As for Disney, no, I don't think Mario and Nintendo's other IP "fits in" with their primary product. It's not a very good fit.

Acquisitions are about more than just pumping investor's pockets with cash and then bailing. They're also about making both companies stronger or at the very least adding value to the operations of the company doing the buying greater than the cost of the acquisition. For Disney? Nintendo doesn't really add much. At most they'd be a side business.