Global investment firm Jefferies & Co's Atul Goyal has recommended that investors pick up Nintendo shares in the expectation of big profits should the Japanese company fail to meet its proposed operating profit of 100 billion Yen.
Goyal's opinion is that Nintendo's failure to meet its targets will force President Satoru Iwata to rethink his strategy and bring the company's massive portfolio of titles to smartphones and tablets — arguably the big area of growth within the games industry right now.
For this financial year, Goyal expects Nintendo to make a profit of 20 billion Yen, and in the following financial year a loss of 5 billion Yen. These grim predictions are based largely on the current state of the Wii U, which is struggling to sell in meaningful quantities:
It is very clear, that Wii had strong momentum from the beginning – both in hardware and software sales. Gamers and observers expressed their affection for Wii console from the very start when it was first shown (at E3) and its novel game-play with Wii-mote. Meanwhile, Wii U sales have been extremely weak. These may be disappointing for the company, but in our view, these are not disappointing for the market. Since the launch of Wii U, gamers / observers have been expressing extreme caution / pessimism about Wii U. We do note that Nintendo sold (sell-in) c. 3.45m units in the first quarter of its launch but then managed only c. 0.39m units (sell-in) in the Jan-Mar quarter, presumably as the retailers were still stuck with plenty of inventory. For the Jan-Mar quarter, Wii U sales in US added up to c. 190, 000 units (i.e. global sell-in was c. 2x of the US sales (sell-through)) […] Using the same yardsticks, if Apr-May trend continues in June as well, that will imply a total of c.100,000 units of Wii U sales (sell through) in US, which could mean global sales (sell-in) of 200,000 – 250,000 units of Wii U in Apr-Jun quarter. Such weak sales trends will make it a struggle to sell even 2mn units this year, even with the help of a big 3Q.
He also says that the 3DS is in "decline", which is a surprising opinion given that the console recently topped the NPD hardware sales chart:
3DS has already started to decline. This is even before Nintendo has started to divert game developer resources towards Wii U. As Nintendo tries to ignite sales for Wii U, it will take away more resources from 3DS, which will further diminish the appeal of 3DS. Already, 3DS hardware and software has started to fade when compared to DS sales.
Taking all of this into account, it's not hard to see why an investment expert like Goyal feels a drastic change is about to happen. He thinks that by missing the target of 100 billon Yen profit, Nintendo's top brass will have enough reason to transform the company into a provider of software for platforms other than its own:
In our view, it is highly unlikely that Nintendo will come even close to its FY3/13 forecast of ¥100b in OP. We believe that this could trigger a meaningful change. In our view, after having been seen as completely opposed to offer its games on mobile-platforms, it is not easy for the management to change its view. However, with its comments about ‚commitment‛ and about ‚responsibility‛, in our view, the management has elegantly set the stage for a change / turnaround. In a low- probability event (we assume 20%) that they can meet this year’s OP of ¥100b, the stock will likely rise and the management will get a bit longer rope. But in all probability (we assign 80%) Nintendo will miss its ‚commitment‛ by a wide margin. That will give the management an elegant way out to change direction / strategy. It will be able to say that it has tried its level best. And that it has no other choice left but to offer games on other platforms. That said, we don’t think that this acknowledgement will come before the year-end.
When digesting information of this kind, it's vitally important to remember that these guys are paid serious amounts of cash to make these predictions and do so based on the data they have in front of them right now. It's safe to assume that Goyal isn't a fanboy and has no bias towards any particular company — in fact, he may never have played a video game in his entire life. He's making this call based on what the market looks like right now, and even the most blinkered Nintendo fan will admit that things could be a lot better than they currently are.
What Goyal perhaps doesn't appreciate is that Nintendo has deep pockets and can quite happily withstand a few years of losses. Whether or not its shareholders will be content for it to do so remains to be seen, however.
Do you think we'll see Mario on the iPad at some point in the near future? Or do you think Nintendo will weather the storm and come out with another "Wii" style revolution in a few years? Post a comment to tell us what you think.
[source blogs.barrons.com]
Comments 126
yeah not going to happen. Nintendo is too stubborn to jump on the mobile bandwagon
@mii-gamer I agree completely. It might actually make sense, but they're too stubborn to ever do it. These analysts just see a company struggling with hardware but still making great games, so the logic from a business point of view is drop the hardware, but it won't happen.
I just can't see it happening! Iwata has said in the past that Nintendo has enough cash reserves to allow a failure and then try again. If they miss targets then he will likely convince shareholders that they should try again for success with their next consoles!
If james bond has the license to kill, these experts must have a license to talk bullpoopies and get paid for it.
And for all the people wanting such an aproach or finding it "logical":
Look what happend to SEGA...
That isnt logic, thats just sad.
Oh boy, here we go again... If I had the money I would definitely invest it in Nintendo. I think they will make a strong comeback. Without nintendo's own hardware, the games can not become what nintendo wants them to become.
Android market is feeling like a bubble to me recently. I dunno I don't see the content on those stores developing and now a lot of it has gone the freemiuim nickle and dime route. Quality is king!
Do these people even know anything about Nintendo? They have lots of cash available so even if the Wii U does flop, it won't mean a lot. They will just try again. The Wii U isn't even doing that badly. The sales are similar to the Gamecube (one of my favourite consoles), which isn't bad considering that the Wii U currently doesn't have that much stuff out.
If you look at the upcoming titles for the remainder of the year, and 2014, there is a lot of good stuff set to come out, which will increase the userbase as the console becomes more appealing.
Sure, the Wii U will be a flop compared to the mammoth sales of the Wii, but I reckon it will end up selling about the same as the competition.
I don't know why i'm getting annoyed. This guy says that the 3DS is in decline; clearly he knows only two things - 'Jack' and 'S**t'.
On another note, I do like Shigsy's t-shirt in that picture.
A very western look at a company ingrained with japanese culture.
I think that, if this is rock bottom for nintendo, they are in excellent shape. They support their consoles, have strong ip, and plenty of material in the pipeline.
Pokemon with nfc characters will sell truckloads, turning stuff around. The question is when - and whether allowing the watering of your ip through different platforms is worth giving that up.
Japanese math says no, even western math says no.
Its mostly all the same games on there that were featured when I got my phone a year ago. I tjink as of right now the market feels like its actually on a decling ive recently witnessed more ds and 3ds on the train then people gaming on a phone.
That pic should be used for all bad news lol. "Gamepads?"
There is enormous pressure on Nintendo to release their games on non-Nintendo platform. Even if they would earn large amount of $$$ that would be long-term disaster.
People want them to go mobile because the content on phones just isn't as good as there's but they arent willing to purchase nintendo consoles it's really funny!
"I understand the reality that there are some in the market who are more supportive of doing things differently than the way we are doing it. If you want to make short-term profits from the stock price, then I am a very bad president. But I don’t think I’m so bad for maximizing the long-term value of Nintendo."
Over iwata's dead body?
Hilarious.
There are a couple of problems with his theory. 1. Nintendo is sitting on about $10 billion worth of credit. Even if this console moves less than say 10 million units, Nintendo has deep enough pockets to come up with a new console in 3-4 years time, not taking into account the persistent flow of 3DS money... and still thrive in the hardware business...
2. Nintendo software is 'inextricably' tied to Nintendo hardware. There is simply no Nintendo software without Nintendo hardware....Just ask Shiggy. The software 'sings' so to speak, because the hardware gives it the perfect platform... Nintendo without it's hardware ceases to exist, and i'm sure investors understand this..
This guy sounds like an Apple or Google shill. No doubt Nintendo have made stupid mistakes, but I wouldn't want to bet on anything until we've seen the impact of the somewhat 'packed' schedule for the rest of 2013...and perhaps until after Mario Kart 8 in the Spring. Also, Nintendo are on the verge of releasing what they feel is a 'killer app' or 'apps' for the Wii U, that will apparently offer up 'a new way of playing games'..aka another Wii Sports moment..
If he thinks the Wii U will only move no more than 2 million units before the end of the year, he's utterly deluded. Mario 3D Land sold almost 8.5 million, DK Country Returns sold 5 million...add in 1st party efforts like Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD, Wonderful 101, and some top shelf 3rd party multi-plat releases like Watch Dogs, Rayman Legends, and Arkham Origins....There's no way only 2 million consoles will shift by the end of the year.
No idea whatsoever..
Nintendo games on phones? Not going to happen, Mr. Expert.
Nintendo has a lot of money. Fact. It is doing much better financially than Sony & Microsoft... yet Iwata and his band of merry devs are ALWAYS in the firing-line. This Nintendoom & gloom reeks of tall-poppy syndrome; because Nintendo is one the oldest and most respected companies on Earth, there seems to be a peverse desire by the haters to see the 'king' get toppled from his throne. It's a petty trait of the human race - and the sad thing is that most Ninty-foes on the internet are unaware of how foolish they really are.
Of course, I'm not saying that Nintendo should be immune to criticism - or that any news of lacklustre profits should be swept under the carpet... but I'm just sick of this double-standard that seems to seep from every news-outlet; even Nintendo's software and hardware seems to receive a constant barrage of mockery - despite the decades-old trend of high sales and critical acclaim.
...Then I step outside, into the 'real' world - and I realise how trivial all this crap really is. Fact is, Nintendo are fine, and it's games are awesome. All this doom-mongering really is a load of hot-air; a fad that will vanish over time.
If anyone here feels depressed because of all the unending negativity, then do what I do; get-off the net for a while.
Super Mario World on the iPad? Lol.
Super Bario World, maybe...
I don't know why these people don't get shot down in flames every time they talk. They're all saying Nintendo should give up long term relevance in favour of making more short term profit. They say this despite the strong financial position of the company and the almost miraculous record of 1 loss in over 100 years.
I think they're all just the paid slaves of Apple, Google, MS and Sony, trying to force Nintendo into doing this. It's not like anyone said to Sony they should get out of the hardware business when the PS3 was struggling. I also wonder why people think that being on iOS or Android would instantly make lots of money. Most people wouldn't want a crappy touchscreen version of Mario for $2 when they can already get a crappy touchscreen version of Mario for free.
Read that article yesterday. I thought it was crap.
Well, I'm not an investment expert and I KNOW that "Nintendo Earnings Miss Will Trigger Multi-Platform Approach" will not happen.
This is an extremely short-termist viewpoint, typically Western and one that will do no good for the image of Nintendo. I trust Iwata and his policies 100%.
Laughable, really. Do these people know anything about Nintendo or even the video games industry in general? Yes, throw away the console business and third-party and indie relationships and start making crappy touch screen Zelda QTE-fests! Nintendo isn't going third-party or putting throwaway experiences on tablets any time soon.
Releasing games on smartphones would be a bad move, because every 3ds release afterwards would be greeted by a chorus of "I'll wait til it is released on smartphone" (even if such a release is never planned) and 3ds software sales would plummet. Even one game released on smartphone could trigger such false expectations.
This song is getting old. When Xbox One starts to sell less than they expect it to, will you see Halo on PS4? Hell No! What are the chances of seeing a game like Uncharted on Xbox One should the PS4 sales slip a little? None. So why expect Nintendo to do the same with one of their franchises... Have some common sense people. The only mobile app I want to see from Nintendo is Miiverse.
I very much doubt these guys are where thay are at, getting paid thousands for taking BS, else most of you lot would have there jobs by now.
But i cannot see Nintendo doing this, but i'm surprised at Nintendo to let mobile/tablet games on to there platform to water down the real indie games made for consoles.
"...And that it has no other choice left but to offer games on other platforms.."
Nope after 30 years of sheer and unmatched profitability (like a freaking oil company last gen) it all ends after missing this fiscal year's target because there's just simply nothing left at all for Nintendo to do.......HOW THE...THBBBBBBT!!
@banacheck
Right, they obviously got to their lofty positions through sheer visionary brilliance...
There is one point however that nobody is commenting on: This is the first investment firm I've heard in a long time actually telling people to BUY Nintendo stock.
@SanderEvers We report on Nintendo news. In case you hadn't noticed, Nintendo is in a rather sticky situation at present. Do you honestly expect us not to cover this news and just bury our heads in the sand?
Naturally we'd hate to lose you as a reader, but at the same time we can't sugar-coat Nintendo's current predicament. We report plenty of positive news as well, I would also like to add.
Zeus striketh down Nintendolife, you keep posting so many negative and gloomy articles about Nintendo.
edit: editing my comment like that? Not cool, guys, I'm just stating my opinion.
@Turaga Dude. They're posting news. Chill. The real world isn't just sunshine and lollipops, it's apso doom and gloom.
It's unbelievable that we are already talking about the wii u as a failure. It's less than a year old. If Nintendo do go on to make a replacement for the wii u it won't we out for at least 3 years (that's how long it takes to develop new hardware)
@SideScreamer Yeah, I know, it's not exactly Nintendolife's "fault" either, as Nintendo are having some hard times with the Wii U. I'm just saying that the negative and bad news keep coming, it's a bad feeling. Also, news post like the Michael Patcher predictions, I really could do without.
I would only consider the Wii U a failure once it has a price drop and sales are still sluggish. The 3DS picked up when it had the one-two punch of Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 PLUS the price drop.
I'd expect in a Worse Case scenario Nintemdo would Ditch WiiU hyper-early, and go all-or-nothing by releasing a new system with more than enough power to out perform Xbone/Ps4 and designed to apeal to the core gamer, standard controller etc, before putting thier games out in the wild.
I refuse to judge a console's success until it has been out for at least two years. The Wii U hasn't even reached one. This feels like either an outsiders who doesn't understand gaming, or someone who is incapable of thinking long term. One thing is for sure, he doesn't understand Nintendo.
I would invest heavily in Ninty, if I had the money to do so. I trust in Iwata, in Miyamoto, and in Reggie, as long as his body stays ready.
You know, the Vita is failing as well. I don't hear anyone saying that Sony should give up on handhelds...
It's a theory that only looks at the bad time the Wii U is going through, not the 3ds that is definitely profitable- and the Wii U may pick up with the future releases announced.. The Wii U's lifespan may only be 4 years as opposed to 10, but in those years we may be at a point where technology is radically advanced.
I could see Nintendo bringing out a unified Home and Portable console (a ds you could play on your TV) before it started making games for iPads.
Damo has an excellent point about who this firm is and how they seem to strictly be looking at numbers. Quite a difference from our favorite Mr.Pachter who tends to contradict himself and is more interested in making his own news.
The fact of the matter is we're in an Instant Gratification Society. Combine that with Western ideals trying to make sense of a Japanese company, competition that can afford to take a loss on hardware because of their other properties (and rely on major 3rd parties for the bulk of their software, giving them more power than they should) and BAM! You've got your weekly doom & gloom.
There is no way a price drop is happening until the Sony/MS launches, or at least until just before.
I'll be very curious to see how MS handles its Xbox when its less than a year old and has sold less than Wii U. Bet the Western media outlets are a lot kinder.
The most ironic thing out of this whole mess, to me, is how investments and industry trends are supposed to be long-term commitments with ups and downs... but man the critics have jumped all over Ninty since day 1 of the Wii U launch.
This analyst is pretty stupid... Nintendo would be stupid to put their retro titles on smartphones.... The VC is currently a selling point, rather small selling point, but still a selling point of the Wii U. They would completely kill the Wii U's VC by making the same titles available on tablets.
@SyntheticPerson and jack just left town.
I feel bad for his investors.
@GiftedGimp Nintendo won't abandon the Wii U early... They will stick it out for at least 4 to 5 years. Their reputation would be shot if the pulled a Sega and stopped supporting their platform after 2 or 3 years.
even if the WiiU fails (and i don't think it will) Nintendo will never go multiplatform as long as they have a system to publish games on, and as they pretty much run the dedicated handheld game market [no i'm not counting things like smart phones because they are not dedicated gaming machines] they would probably shift all their focus there before they ever went multiplatform
and even then i don't think they would, i think they would just shut up shop rather than put their games all over the place
@element187 Not just killing a selling point of the console but also a pretty major selling point for all Nintendo systems: you can only (officially) play Nintendo games on Nintendo's devices. That claim contributes to the huge value of the company's hardware. This dinglebucket doesn't doesn't quite appreciate the unique proposition of Nintendo's hardware-software product as much as he does iOS and iPhone I'm sure.
Fact: investors don't care about the industry. They will invest in anything that will make 'm money; from video games to assault rifles and pork belly futures. They wil happily drive up short-term "shareholder value" while gutting the company's long term interests. These analysts serve their interests, not the industry they analyze.
@imii I think this analyst is only discussing the possibility of Nintendo releasing NES and SNES games on iOS and android... I see a few commenters thinking this analyst is talking about Nintendo releasing their new games on iOS/android, which I don't think this Analyst is talking about.
Rubbish.
Nintendo make money on their software sales. And atm, 5 of the top 10 selling games around the world are Nintendo games.
Nuff said.
The day Nintendo starts making cellphone games is the day I stop supporting Nintendo. But they care too much about games to do that. It won't happen with the current executives, at least.
@element187 I mean in worse case scenario, and yeah is as extremely unlikely, as is Nintendo putting games out on other devices/systems. Something they have always made clear that they wouldn't do.
Alternative option, again in worse case scenario, scale back with WiiU to a minor system giving it some but little support while attempting to reach the mainstream 'core' gamer (hate that term 'core gamer... in reality there is no such thing.. but thats a different discussion) with a new system with standard controller, and all about power but little/no innovation. (As in Xbone/Ps4).
Sadly its the times we live in which is Nintendo's worse enemy, Nintendo like to offer something new with innovative possibilities but for the most part Gamers just want the Better graphics and yearly CoD games. If the Wii was on par in terms of specs of ps4 and was released now rather than back when it was I very much doubt that system would have the success it has had.
@element I cant see from his wording where he stipulates NES and SNES games only. In either case, Nintendo publishing any of their IP new or old on third party platforms would have an impact on the strength of their brand that would not be reversible.
I sometimes think Microsony not only pays reviewers to score their games better, but also 'analysts' to talk negatively about their competitors... They apparently pay to keep others their advertisements to a minimum, so why wouldn't they be as dirty as that? In fact, I'd be more surprised if they didn't play it dirty at such high levels of undeniable... low-ness.
I can't see this happening.
I'm sure Nintendo will fight to improve the Wii U's misfortunes at least for the next few years. Even if they can't turn Wii U around I think they are too stubborn to go mobile as someone said above...
@Shambo Well, I think what we are seeing is a massive shift in who, exactly, the average gamer is. It trickles up (sorry gravity, I'm ignoring you for this point) to investment speculation, but a lot of today's "gamers" are gadget guys with too much money. They just want something with killer specifications the way a car guy wants a massive engine. Nintendo...doesn't so much care about that.
Anyway, I think this guy is committing a classic Business student mistake. He made his point about the Wii U, but I think he fudged the data a little to make that point about the 3DS. "They're both tumbling" just holds more leverage.
This moron can go to hell. I am sick of Anaylsts who have no idea what they are saying and make sure to doom and gloom and say Nintendo will and should make smartphone ****.
3DS is in decline? It gained momentum this year especially in Europe and software sales were up 52% YOY in Janurary-April in America. Not only that but it has many notable releases upcoming including pokemon which will cause a massive surge in hardware sales, increase momentum and sell millions of units. And in Japan there is also monster hunter 4 which will have a similar effect. Animal crossing also caused a huge increase in 3DS sales.
There is also Mario and luigi, Zelda, Mario party, Sonic lost world, Etc. to drive sales this year.
@Damo Keep the news coming, matey. Your news, good or bad, gives me something to read on the train.
@FineLerv Thanks dude! Nice to know we're appreciated.
The only way Nintendo is going on a mobile phone is if they made the phone.
I think these negative articles are stopping people from buying a Wii U. Folks acting like they dont want to buy it no more >:[ Nintendo Life your not helping
WELL I AM STILL BUYING A WII U!!
@GiftedGimp It would obliterate any and all trust people have in Nintendo as a company. Nobody would ever buy their hardware again because they don't know if Nintendo will just kill the platform prematurely again if it doesn't reach its sales goals.
a platform holder is stuck with what they release for at least 4-5 years, there really is no changing that. if you think the Wii U sales are soft, watch what happens with gamers they see Nintendo kill off a platform after 3 years, nobody will trust their next one, or their next one or their next one. Its the fastest ticket out of the home console business.
I'm the biggest console Nintendo fan, if they abandon the Wii U, I won't buy their next one, I'll stick with PC Gaming.
Even if Nintendo did go under, the long term shockwave that would travel through-out the industry would literally cause the foundations of gaming to crumble. 5-10 years later gaming as we know it would begin to decline from lack of interest, creativity in games, and ground breaking hardware innovations. Sony & Microsoft would back out of the industry the moment they seen this decline begin to happen.
I know if i can't have my Nintendo consoles & games, i won't game at all.
I (as well as many more I'm sure) was raised on these games.
@Realgamer4life agreed Nintendo phone would be amazing.
@Damo
I doubt anyone is saying sugar coat anything, I think what a lot of posters (including myself) are saying is WE GET IT, times are tough for wiiu. Nobody is denys this fact. All we are saying is it's not some big secret, ANY other game site spends day in day out bashing nintendo. The reason many people come to nintendo life is to ESCAPE that. No one is burying their head in the sand or pretending wiiu life is good. But their comes a point where the vast majority don't care what "industry experts" say about nintendo. They care only about games, fellow gamers, etc. NOBODY wants to hear patcher predictions. Stop insulting readers or become the new ign. Nothing personal, your articles are usually great, but don't be so close minded toward those who read them.
"the 3DS is in decline"
Pokemon would like to have a word with you.
We'll sooner see Littlebig Planet and Banjo Kazooie released for iPad. And like @AJSjedi said, this news isn't the reason I visit Nintendolife.
@willweinert
Yeah, disregard that paragraph... Guy's speaking out of his a*se..
I estimate the 3DS will top 40m sales by the end of Xmas
Now I'm not an expert, but we all know that the Wii U is failing. That is hurting Nintendo. The 3ds is missing marks in the west. As you saw though, AC boosted 3ds sales, also the 3ds is missing one huge franchise, Pokemon. Pokemon has proven to be a system seller and it shall boost up 3ds sales. Remember games make a platform and we should see some sorta rise in sales from X and Y
I'd be really upset with Nintendo if they began releasing snes games on phones while leaving out snes on 3ds. Can't see it happening though.
If other people in the mainstream press or other industries talk about Nintendo it's news here at NintendoLife, and I'm glad. why the complaints? Investment money is still a big part of keeping a company that large afloat.
If nintendo is making no profit from it's largest product theres no way they'll just decide "oh well, lets just ignore it and spend everything we have left on it and work on something new secretly". There has to be a cash flow. They have massive overhead it's not a corner store.
This guy is right but wrong. This would all be true if it were some smart business guy at the head but it's just Iwata.
It's not that bad of an idea to go to mobile machines but unfortunately their too stubborn to do it. Put out all those old NES and Super NES games on mobile and they'd easily be better than everything on mobiles now and we'd all buy them for 4.99 each, then fill them with ads and extras about WiiU and 3DS exclusives. Apple has a stronghold and it's not going away, theres no logic in pretending that's not there.
These business views from people with a lot of financial say in Nintendos future are important if you truly care about Nintendo, whether you like what they say or not.
@SMT4Protag
Well, given Diamond and Pearl sold 1.5m copies in its first week in Japan alone, you may have a point ;D Not to mention its proximity to Xmas.
He lost me at 3ds decline. Apparently they only focus on the present (and some parts of past) rather then looking at what's coming in the future (games) and how they influence the systems.
@ajcismo for all the wrong reasons lol
Nintendo will never survive bringing their games to smart devices. They'll make some money in the short term, good for investors looking to buy and sell for a quick buck, but they'll fail in the long term.
I swear, when I got to the part where they started talking about how Nintendo was going to go multi-platform about half way in, I just, "Holy crap, this AGAIN??"
How on Earth is the 3DS on the decline? I know that we throw around the term "these people/this person doesn't know what they/him/her are talking about," but this group REALLY doesn't know what they're talking.
NINTENDO WILL LIVE THROUGH THE STORM AND BE OK
@X-Factor GOOD FOR YOU I HAVE A WII U TOO AND WHEN THE PRICE GO DOWN I'M BUYING OTHER WII U
I will never understand the theory that Nintendo would make boatloads of cash if they ported their games to iOS and Android. Who would want to play a Mario game on a touchscreen? Besides, the real money in mobile is with free-to-play and games like Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans. I don't know that Nintendo has any interest in or would even be successful with such a strategy. If they plopped down a bunch of old games in the App Store and sold them for 5 bucks a pop, I think a bunch of people would buy them for the novelty, but they would quickly realize that Nintendo games are no fun on a touchscreen. I sincerely doubt that Nintendo would be able to turn that into a long-term, sustainable business.
Lets say the Wii U doesn't do well. So Nintendo backs off, and starts pumping more into the 3DS, and that continues to grow. It doesn't make sense to me because Nintendo is a shrewd Eastern company, not a Western company. They make their money in Japan, then visit the world a little. Their handhelds will always make money, so why transition to cell phones and tablets?
get gta5 on the wii u and troubles for this year will be over. next year without some zeldas (plural due to all the mario games this year) might be difficult as most 3rd party game wont be portable to the wii u
Why such opposition to iOS and Android? It's a great marketing tool to hook casuals into "real" games. Look at what Square does w/ it's Crystal tower Defense games and other free-to-play web stuff. I would hate to see Nintendo give up handhelds but a game like Dr. Mario (a Tetris clone FYI) is perfect for "touch". All those Angry Bird and Where's my Water games make money. A Candy Crush clone, call it Mushroom Kingdom Mix-up w/ little toad heads - profit! No reason to let GungHo reap all that money.
If you're a video game making company and you aren't making games for phones then YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING WRONG. Don't make Mario Kart or Smash, but Ice climbers would work great as a 99c "jump" game. 2 climbers connected by a rope, 2 thumbs, 1 for each climber. It's waiting to be made.
@AJSjedi you could simply not read any negative stories. Just a thought
@SyntheticPerson I like Shiggy's T Shirt in every picture.
Dude, the "Nintendo should go to smartphones" bandwagon is so last year. Get with it.
@Dr_Corndog funny that, considering there are more naysayers than last year
love cell phone market cellphone games are all lame game and loving poor game play why people are so stupid now
watch the profanity — TBD
doggiedoodoodingleberry happens. could nintendo lean over to mobile. i hope not, but people used to think sega would be around forever. haven't seen a system from them in years and never will again. either way i'll be a nintendo fanboy for the rest of my days. i just hope all is well and all stays well
yay, no -_- Nintendo won't allow Mario on such a inferior, overpriced machine which they don't have control over.
Also, the 3DS in decline? Do these guys REAALLY know what there talking about, or is everybody's opinion out of shear hate for Nintendo, and love for there respected platform (in this case, Apple by the sounds of it). I can't take these kind of opinions seriously, Nintendo has been in worse shape before with Virtual Boy and GameCube, and Nintendo has pulled miracles out of thin air before. I think the gaming news media has become incredibly bias, especially as of lately. You can usually tell a analyst or reviewer favourite system company is lately. I kinda miss the SNES/Genesis days when people weren't looking at playing favourites really as much as looking for the next awesome game to play.
Ugh, another one of these...things? Nintendo could probably make more money, but their games will require being significantly dumbed down due to touch controls. I hate it when investors want to destroy Ninty's franchises by going mobile. If they were to go into mobile development, they should only do so with brand new, completely different IPs so that dumbing down of an existing franchise won't be needed.
@element187
Exactly what happened with Sega I believe.
Sigh. These "experts" know nothing about Nintendo, or the game industry. Nintendo won't go multiplat, or even mobile. That would be equivalent to becoming SEGA, and we all know how they're doing these days. It just won't happen.
If the guy think's about it the 3DS about it's sales alot of games are coming out and this games are going to be great such as Mario and Luigi, Pokémon X and X, The Legend of Zelda Link Between two worlds, Yoshi's Island, and ext. And if u think about it the 3DS is still having another great year and most of the great Wii U games are coming out until 2014
ENOUGH of this stupid topic. How many times are you going to print these articles Nintendolife? Why bother asking, "what do you think" at the end of the article. Everyone knows what we think. We've talked about it more than enough. And Nintendo has stated many, many times that they are not interested in the mobile market. This analyst may be looking at the numbers but he is ignoring Nintendo's stated business directive and their history. Until such a thing happens, please stop all of your self-imposed SPAM. Enough already.
Wait until this guy seeing the upcoming appalling sales figures for Xbone and PS4: Look at GTA V and what is the point in upgrading? The new games look a bit better, but they will play the exact same as current gen titles. Why would anyone fork out? At least the Wii U is different to the Wii. Its a bit expensive right now, but it will take off when Mario comes out on it.
3DS declining? Clearly someone's never heard of Pokemon & Animal Crossing...
@Koto Precisely what happened to SEGA... you ruin that trust, that belief and trust a consumer has in your product its near impossible to get back... Look at the Vita, its in even worse shape than the Wii U. It has been on the market for over a year, and has some key pieces of software released for it and its still flopping around on the deck like a fish. Sony would love nothing more than to pull that device and start anew, but if they did, it would ruin the trust consumers have in their handheld products. If they did pull it, nobody would buy the next one, not even those 4 million people who bought the Vita.. Sony is lucky that it wont harm their console business. Nintendo on the other, pulling the Wii U console and starting anew, might negatively affect the trust its consumers have in its handhelds. Its not worth that risk if you are Nintendo.
As far as Nintendo products go, I don't see why people are so obsessed with the power of the system. I game on PC mostly, so I have already accepted that console gaming is pretty pathetic in comparison as for visuals go, but I can't get Nintendo games on my PC, so Nintendo has me by the balls. I will keep buying their system. Their consoles are pretty cheap. I paid $300 USD for the Wii U, and that is more than worth it for the expectation I will get out of it over the next 4 years in first party titles... I don't think Nintendo did anything wrong with choosing the hardware they did. I'm not in the least bit concerned about it. Its a very modern GPU, self shadows/shading, advanced lighting, bokeh, and performance over the ps360, thats more than enough than what we need for Nintendo's franchises... I don't think PS4 level of performance would do very much for Mario Kart 8's visuals. It may allow a little bit higher resolution, but thats about it. Nintendo has probably hit just under its own diminishing returns on visuals because of their art styles wont benefit from going to ultra-photo realistic.
Who was really expecting NIntendo to compete on performance any how? They don't have other business avenues like Sony/Microsoft, so they would have to use their massive warchest, but wouldn't it be more prudent to save as much cash as possible for emergency situations? Like a crash in the video game market we may see?
Investment "Expert."
Why does everything have to sell like hotcakes for a company to be considered "doing well"? Can't a company just be "doing well" to be considered "doing well"? It seems to me that many investors and analysts are incredibly short-sighted. It's all about the "NOW NOW NOW" without a single thought towards the long-term.
The analyst's prediction just doesn't make sense for Nintendo.
Sega and Atari sure did well after leaving the hardware market. /sarcasm
I see a 0.000000001% higher chance of Mario on PS4 than on those stupid touch screen gadgets.
@CyberNature Well last week the vita out sold the wii u new life is seeping into it
Do these experts even have a clue what they are talking about? The 3DS is in decline? Are we talking about the same 3DS that is dominating the Japanese charts and is doing very well on the US charts by finishing in either second or first place for the last several months?
And yeah, we're comparing the 3DS to the DS yet again. But correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the 3DS doing better then the DS when we compare the same time frame and rate of sales?
If we go compare the two systems at this point in time, two years into their lifespan the DS was still sitting at 21.27 million. Now compare that to the 3DS which has sold at least 31.3 million units(and those numbers are from march, so they would be higher now.) Anybody can clearly see the 3DS is beating the DS' numbers from the same comparable timeframe.
Not to mention, third-party support and overall quality of the libary has been much stronger on the 3DS then it was on the DS during the same timeframe.
If anybody wants to see the links to the sales of the 3DS and DS, here they are.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_DS_sales
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_3DS#Sales_2
One other thing to keep in mind, that 31 million does not include the 3DS XL. If those numbers are added, then its closer to 40 million.
Honestly, I don't know what kind of data these so-called "analysts" are looking at, but they are wrong about the 3DS. Not only is selling very well, it is beating the DS' numbers in the same comparable time period.
Where did he get this so-called "data"? Did this guy look at a 3DS sales chart from June 2011 or something?
How can make such claims when the data easily proves him wrong. And not to mention, that 31 million was achieved without Pokemon. When Pokemon launches, sales will skyrocket. The 3DS could easily get close to or surpass 50 million by the end of the year.
tl;dr version: Stupid people who don't know things pretend to know things. Hey, maybe if I become an Investment Expert I'll also assume every business in every medium has the exact same ideas as me!
Glad to see a fresh opinion like the ones from ten years ago. The Wii wasn't really favored by gamers for the first few years of life. We're right where we were in the 'core's eyes but we're missing the casual market. And to think that they would project sales much greater than anyone else sees seems as though they know something you don't. Now how could they know that?
I stopped reading after they said the 3DS is in decline!! What nonsense!
I study economics, I am a video gamer and I own nintendo stock (up 10% since i bought them).
The analyst report is not worth the paper it is printed on. If they did a serious analysis they should have known this:
1. 3DS is doing great and is gaining even more momentum. 3 games that have not come out yet are huge system sellers: Monster Hunter 4, Zelda & and Pokemon.
2. Nintendo have not marked Wii U because they have been waiting for the games, A fact that Iwata have admitted himself.
3. The strong fall/winter lineup together with the inevitable price drop of the Wii U will sell systems. Perhaps not as many as nintendo wants but they will sell way more than the 2 million that this clown is predicting.
Yes Nintendo have had a rough couple of years but it is already factored into the stock price. You should buy Nintendo stocks because they are a great value right now not because of some dream scenario.
@Damo
Even if this is a LOL no kind of news article it's interesting and amusing to see what experts think. Good work.
I agreed with this guy up until he said the 3DS is starting to decline. The fact that he's considering the 3DS in the same market as Wii U, home console market, is his first mistake. Nintendo owns the handheld market right now.
With respect to the Wii U, I do think Nintendo is going to have a hard time turning things around. The Wii was successful primarily because of the motion-controls and Wii Sports. People are used to new innovations popping up everywhere these days, and you ask most of them, they'll call it gimmicks. The problem I see, is that these same people who bought the Wii, the Xbox Kinect, Move etc. don't really care about video games all that much. They wanted the coolest, newest holiday toy, and were finished with it within months.
Nintendo was taking a bold move with Wii U, they were trying to deliver a product for those kinds of people, and for traditional players. The problem is, both of those audiences are looking elsewhere, they're settled in to their PlayStation's, Xbox's, and smartphones, respectively. It's my opinion that Nintendo launched the Wii U way too late, I think they should have released it around 2010 and piggybacked off the momentum of the Wii, not released it while Wii and motion-controls were irrelevant in 2012.
Here's to hoping for the future growth of the Wii U, that Nintendo can pull off another one of its miracles, and get that thing seriously selling. I'm sure Iwata has a trick or two up his sleeves.
@AcesHigh ... Totally Agree ... Nintendo is absolutely fine... and everyone will be singing a different tune come March 2014 ... After a Huge 3rd & 4th Quarter and heading into 2014 with games like Smash Bros, Bayonetta 2 & Mario Kart 8 on the way ... I'm planning on getting 8 games for my Wii U from now until Christmas (Pikmin 3, Rayman Legends,Wonderful 101,Sonic Lost World,Batman Arkham Origins,Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag,Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, and Super Mario 3D World) . Nintendo Will Never go Multi Platform or Mobile Devices ... I dont want to play real games on a 3.5inch Smartphone with no buttons Give it Up ... if they would have ever folded it would have been during the GameCube vs PS2 time when they got crushed but Nintendo keeps on keeping on because Fads come & Go but the Originals Never Die... Most Hard Core haha (Non Teenage Gamers) got there start During the Video Game Revelution that Was The NES/SNES Days 1985-1995
3DS in trouble??? uhhh, did this person forget that pokemon x and y are releasing worldwide on the same day this year???? with special XL pokemon bundles??
pokemon only prints money
Another stupid comment from a dumb analyst that refuses to look at the consistent nature of the company they're talking about. Nintendo patently has stated they'd shut down before they'd get out of hardware and make games on other platforms. They've already been long standing on not making their stuff on other mobile devices too. I don't get why this doesn't sink in.
The 3DS part is just silly, it's trouncing the PS Vita (Well, handheld LCD-games are pwning that, but still...), the 3DS is doing fine and once Pokémon X/Y (And the inevitable Z ) hit, it will sell even better.
But as for the WiiU... It's treading water without direct competition, so i do foresee trouble for it once XBone and PS4 hit the market, the whole "Oh darn! we totally missed everybody else needing to do more work to make HD-games, Whoopsie!" deal was pretty saddening too, if Nintendo really missed what the entire rest of the industry was doing, they need to get their act together and quickly...
First off once you go mobile your credibility starts to drop.. look at Sega.. if you go by what they have on mobile phones they are a company of suck..only when you get what they have on the consoles.. do they become a good-great company.. and even at that once Sega got out of hardware.. their games and series started declining sharply in quality... Nope Nintendo would not be good for going this route at all.. The Big N needs to stay on Consoles.. and frankly if you really want to play their games.. it's more than likely the console is going to be cheaper than a smart phone or tablet.. even with the games you want to purchase..
Wishful thinking, that's all this is. From people who don't want to buy any consoles but want to have the games to play on their smartphone. At least it shows how universally popular Nintendo games are....the Vita is struggling but I don't see anybody suggesting that Sony should farm out Ratchet and Clank or God Of War to smartphones
I don't care that you guys make articles about Nintendo "Gloom and Doom." My complaint is that the articles are all basically stating the same info over and over over and over over and over over and over...
This [insert analyst name here] said Nintendo will stop making hardware and start making crap touch games for iOS is something speculated on years now. The death of Nintendo and subsequently handheld gaming has yet to happen.
But I guess if you keep speculating something will happen sooner or later you'll be right. There, I'm an analyst! Not new. You don't have to be an analyst fanboy to state Nintendo issues with Wii U, but how much money you make speculating doesn't validate your credibility Damien. We can pretend that ad revenue has no motivation on hyperbolic or bombastic headline titles if you like. We can also look at the predictions track record of a guy who also presumably makes a ton of cash as a speculator, Michael Pachter, and decide analyst speculations aren't worthy of an article.
If your going to give us bad news, we only ask that you give us NEW bad news that is not speculation based and is tangible. No EA games - cool. Wii U has poor sales - uh huh. But countless articles stating "if Wii U doesn't retrieve the Majora's Mask within 3 days the scary faced moon MIGHT fall from the sky and land on Nintendo Headquarters Kyoto," says [Analyst that we have not mentioned his predictability track record or ignored it all together.]
That I think is what annoys most folks here Dames
We heard all of this when the 3ds wasn't faring so well, but look at it now. Also Nintendo would be fools to publish their games to other devices as it would steal potential business from their own handheld console. Wii U has been through one Holiday season. Like the 3ds it just needs time.
The only problem with this theory is that Nintendo has soooo much money. And they're doing better than microsoft and sony did so these guys have no reason to say Nintendo is doomed or anything. Not talking about this guy specifically I just mean all the haters.
If Nintendo had no other choice but to go third party I'd wished they'd lock away all of their IP's forever.I wouldn't stand seeing Mario games on an Iphone or a playstaion.
@GearsOfWarU I totally agree with everything you said. I too have 7 - 8 games I'm getting for Wii U and 3DS before the end of the year and... honestly none for PS3/4 XB360 and Vita. Actually, I'll be getting the new Ys for Vita but that's all I know of now. I WILL be getting a PS4 but don't know what games yet. I'm sure I'll find one.
But that speaks volumes for Nintendo. I already know those 7 - 8 games and have them on my calendar. What people don't seem to realize is that people who want Nintendo games buy Nintendo systems. And, as you said, as soon as the library of Nintendo games increases to more than just a few selections currently, the people on the fence will jump over and snap the systems up. It's how it goes with Nintendo systems. Has been since the N64. The Wii was anomalous. I wouldn't expect that kind of break-out performance again.
Now... if Nintendo REALLY wants to knock the ball out of the park, they will bundle the WiiU with Mario 3D World this holiday right out of the gate. Don't wait till Mario 3D World has been on the market for a while. Bundle it straight away. There are only 2 console launches in Nintendo history where they bundled a Mario game from the start. And that was NES and SNES. OK, so the NES wasn't bundled with SuperMario Bros during test market. But when they went national, they bundled Mario and Duck Hunt or Mario, Duck Hunt and thr Track game. And it went gangbusters. Same with SNES packed straight away with Mario World. After those two successful launches and product lifecycles, they sold Mario separately with no pack-ins. And since then, they have been only a steady (but strong and resilient) 3rd. They will lose out on revenue sure, but will make up for it in licensing fees from 3rd parties once WiiU reaches critical mass and 3rd parties jump on-board. They need to look to the past to improve their future. Go back to current and compelling pack-ins. Don't wait til the pack-ins they choose are in their maturity. Recently, they did this with Marioland 3D on 3DS. I think it was only on the market a few months before they started bundling the game with the 3DS that Christmas. And that with the price drop too is what ignited 3DS sales. That's how they can right this ship. I would bet dollars to donuts that this Xmas will see a price drop and - if not also with the price drop, at least bundling MarioWorld 3D. Let's start a pool! We can sell squares. LOL! What games will Nintendo bundle this Xmas?
Screw mobile phone games. None of them are fun. .02
Mobile phone games are a dime a dozen now, and the market is already getting too saturated with everyone jumping into the next new things.
no thanks.
And THIS folks is why I want Nintendo to go private. The moment you go public, you get idiots like this ^ this guy spewing malarki. First of all, until the entire world says "WE HATE GAMING HARDWARE AND WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER CONSOLE AGAIN", Nintendo will NEVER develop for other platforms. (And even then, they'd probably let the company burn to the ground first.) Unlike Sony, Microsoft, and pretty much all third parties, Nintendo actually makes the hardware to suit the software. Not the other way around! Developing on other systems would force them to work under others bottlecaps. Second of all, Nintendo is MUCH more forward thinking than that. Developing on other systems SEEMS like a good idea. But one thing you have to remember, it that when your software sells on someone ELSE's platform, you have to pay a royalty so Nintendo would lose a good chunk of cash. And on the note smartphones, if Nintendo did that, they'd have to charge MUCH less for the games do to the severe drop in scope and a lot of their IPs probably wouldn't be able to stand out from all the iOS garbage, not to mention be downright ruined by the interface! Platformdrs ala Mario and smartphones don't mix. Also, Nintendo developing for other platforms would remove a lot of the shine their IPs have. Would playing Mario on a tablet be the same? Furthermore, if Nintendo went software only, they'd go the way of Sega. There only source of revenue would be their own software. No more royalties to tide them over. This means they'd have to rush all their games to the market to keep money flowing in which would hurt their quality and profits in the long term. Also, this guy clearly doesn't know a thing about how Nintendo roles. First of all, Nintendo is not in danger of going business. They have like $11 billion in RAW cash to burn, and that's assuming they never profit. In fact, Nintendo has thrice as much money as Sony and Microsoft's gaming divisions combined! Also, Nintendo's been through much worse. cough Gamecube cough And they've still always profited off their consoles. If they didn't go third party then, they ain't going third party any time soon. Iwata is a level headed CEO. He makes his fair share of mistakes, but he knows better than to do anything drastic like develop on smartphones. Especially since he doesn't even do lay offs. Now as for the 3DS and Wii U. The 3DS is lagging? Dude, the 3DS is going to EXPLODE this year! Pokemon X and Y would like a word with you and it has lots of other software in support. As for Wii U, 7 slow months, a doomed console doesn't make. If that were the case, the PS2, PS3, DS, 3DS, and Xbox 360 should have been absolute failures. The Wii U is VERY cost efficent. Just like Nintendo. Hell, Intelligent Systems just said that a Fire Emblem for Wii U would only need to sell 700k to be viable. Nintendo could easily rake it in just selliing 50 million consoles. (Seriously though, I don't why Patcher would think Nintendo would go third party after a console outsold the N64). Nintendo has loads of software coming. If they get their marketing right this time, the Wii U is bound to sell up to 9 million units by the end of the year! Especially if they do a price cut. 1 more thing I want to say. Iwata isn't even going to RESIGN if they don't make that 100 billion yen profit. It's just a goal Iwata has set to push themselves. The Western Media really needs to CHILL OUT. Sheesh...
@Einherjar
Oh god, you had to bring up Sega, didn't you? That alone makes me want Nintendo to succeed. All the competition are already HUGE companies that just decided to dance into gaming because they had money coming out of their ears and decided to push the monopoly wagon even further. I miss the days when gaming companies were actually gaming companies.
Why do people talk about consoles lifespan like it's one to three years? The 3DS isn't doing as well as DS? Really probably because the DS is the highest selling handheld console of all time you can't expect that kind of success two times in a row. Same goes for Wii and Wii U. Now I do think that Nintendo made fault by keeping the Wii and DS name with their new consoles which came across confusing to most consumers but to expect either to sell as well as last gen is kind of crazy
Well I understand its his job and all but that doesn't really mean much to me personally. Sure you can have all the data but you can't really tell what is going to happen next..but forgot alllll that for a second, why is it that everyone is gunning for Nintendo's IPs as well as why does smartphones and tablets keep being mentioned? I don't know about anyone else but playing games on phones SUCK HARD not to even go into allll the other problems with that( mainly size and space issues). This needs to stop..Nintendo is the ONLY company that is JUST a game company and always has been, why not support that instead of curse and doom being overall just a prat...
@AcesHigh ... Hell Yeah ... Mario 3D World with Black Deluxe Nintendo and oooo 64Gig Flash Memory for $350 ..... and Wii Party U with White Nintendo and 32 gig Memory for $300 those would defiantly sell Big Time starting Black Friday : ) .... Just Drop the 8 gig all together ... But Really its all about Quality Titles that you can only get on Wii U + solid 3rd Party ... and Wii U has that coming this September-December!!!!!!!!!! why has Wii U struggled to sell Because January-July what 5 decent games released and only 1 was Wii U exclusive Lego City Undercover ... you had 2 quality Capcom Remakes in Monster Hunter Ultimate and Resident Evil Revelations and 2 Good Warner Bros games with Lego Batman 2: DC Superheros & Injustice Gods Among Us ... Thats not going to sell systems over a 7 month period .... but in 100 + days this Fall Wii U is the only place to play Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101, Sonic Lost World, Wii Party U, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze & Mario 3D World those games along with Disney Infinity, Rayman Legends, Assassins Creed 4, Batman Arkham Origins and COD Ghosts will SELL SYSTEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I believe they are greatly underestimating Nintendo's hubris.
Another thing I want to stop: can investors stop comparing all of Nintendo's sales to the Wii/DS era? That was a crazy good point in Nintendo's financial book. But the reality is we should be looking at SNES/GC sales figures. I see Nintendo toping ~50 million Wii U consoles sold if they get it right on the dime and perhaps +60 million 3DSs if the momentum keeps up (with Pokeon X/Y on the way). Keep things level headed. Nintendo isn't owner of the 100+ Million Units Sold Club.
This is the kind of person that searched for "Doom and Gloom, Nintendo, last 25 years, Videogame Analysts" and compiled some thoughts.
This is just going to force share prices up, which will give Iwata more reason than ever to stay on course and not put Nintendo games on other platforms.
I think the investors that take this guy's advice won't take it a second time.
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