Iwata Shoulders Blame for Low 3DS Sales, Cuts Salary in Half

wow thats gotta hurt, i feel sorry for them. im sure they will be back on there feet in no time.

Is Nintendo falling?

What did Miyamoto do wrong???

Ay...Nintendo is starting to fall a bit, but they will recover. They made a mistake and that's ok. They're taking risky moves, but it'll pay off. They just gotta take it one step at a time, and it won't always be a clear road for them, sometimes they'll be beaten by a simple koopa, but they just gotta hang in there. The 3DS...no..Nintendo won't fall no matter what, it's just us fans that need to show them, that we love them no matter what !

Poor rich people.

It's kind of funny how no one seemed to realize that Nintendopocalyspe was happening until they announced the price slash. And now suddenly everyone is afraid of the company going out of business.

@7: How about on Facebook?

Much respect for taking the blame like that. It's not often you see CEOs cut their own pay following poor performance...

@master344 What do you think Nintendo Life is?

At least they're doing something about it unlike Sony with the PS3 and PSP. I mean look at the prices of Sony hardware several upon several years on. Still too high. Pure arrogance from them

hope theyve got their heads screwed on would not be funny if they did a sega sure that wont happen fingers crossed

The problem that I have noticed is that many people aren't aware that the 3ds even exists. Every time I use it in public someone always comes up to me and asks me what it is. Maybe if Nintendo made more commercials that would help in sales

Hey now, Nintendo isn't the only ones that need to help show everyone what a 3DS is, so do the fans.

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wasn't expecting the 3DS to so this bad. Even though I'm not that impressed with the wii U at the moment, I hope the same doesn't happen to that as I wouldn't want Nintendo to end up like Sega.

I can't help but feel the PS Vita's price and something to do with this. Aside from bad IP.

Edit:
I think Reggie should take a pay cut in order to help motivate him into fixing the localizing problem and the awful Club Nintendo rewards!

Guys, 50% of a $2 million salary is still $1 million. Iwata is going to survive, and bet he won't even have to turn to food stamps.

I still don't forgive Nintendo. 3DS lineup is still very weak and I will continue to wait for the Wii RPGs - Last Story, Xenoblade and Pandora's Tower. I'll take one of them, and you can have your forgiveness.

@18 I think it's price cut will help it sell more than the Vita. Lets put it this way: You have never had a handheld console before. you go to the store holiday 2011. and you have 2 choices: A PSVita for $250, or a 3DS for $170. You compare the libraries: 3DS: Kid Icarus, Mario, Mario Kart, Pokemon, Zelda, MGS, Resident Evil, etc. You see the Vita: Watered down ports of PS3 games with an estimated 2 hour battery life. Not to mention, Oled screens are extremely sensitive. my friend had an eBook with an oled screen, he was reading it outside, and the suns created spots that damaged the screen. So if you had a vita, you couldn't play it in direct sunlight... anyways. It seems like an obvious choice. the 3DS launch was to early though. I wouldn't have minded waiting another 2 months to get it with Zelda and the eShop. If the 3DS launch library had 1st party games, it would be selling much better... much better..

plz nintendo dont be like sega nooooooo!

Good man. Nice to see the higher-ups taking to brunt for a change.

Ouch, I'm getting a 3DS as soon as a red one comes out, so bring it over here quickly Nintendo!

Well, if the 3DS fails, Nintendo always has Ultra Hand to fall back on....

Poor millionairres. What are they to do? Honestly it's a noble sacrifice but they're still making massive amounts. It's not that heroic.

I hope they don't stop 3DS production because of this hopefully Mario kart 7, paper Mario and super Mario 3D land boost 3DS sales near Christmas but I can't believe they cut there own salleries for the 3DS this shows that there not giving up on there products although they did give up on the 64DD but that only sold 15,000 units so nintendo don't give up

@bezerker99 LOL! Even though that game is addicting, I don't think that they will get a lot of money off of it!

If only more CEOs would do this rather than lay off a lot of their own employees who are going paycheck to paycheck in the first place.
Good job Nintendo! I hope other CEOs take this to heart.

When I get money again I think I will buy me some Nintendo games, or at least one

Releasing 3DS with no games was a mistake lol.

@ 27
I don't think that 3 million units moved is that bad considering the launch titles were meager.
The only thing happening to Nintendo would be them getting a little embarassed about the whole launch snaffoo.
The idea of them pulling the plug on the 3DS is ludicrous. That would cause an uproar, this is nothing. The 3DS is a slow burner, it won't go out for a loooooong time.

lol people these guys have enough money. no need to feel sad for them.

Stupid Sony! Why do they have to ruin everything!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Fail...

I would like to think all companies care about their bottom line as much as Nintendo. They have always been about putting out the best product they can and taking their time to make it right. Maybe they did rush it a bit with the 3ds but they will recover. Just look at all the great games still coming out. I think all the resent happenings is just as much a show for all 3rd parties then anything else. Don't want to loss them this early in its life span!

If Nintendo was an American company, Iwata would have taken a massive severance package, and they would hire someone else (for tons of money) to prepare the company for bankruptcy (read: drive the company to the ground while disbursing as much money as possible to execs, so when they do have to go bankrupt there's nothing left for the court to seize).

Good for Iwata. Half seems like a bit much for the situation, but, still, if I had any yen, I would buy Ninty stock in support just for Iwata and the other executives doing what they are supposed to and taking credit for not only the company's successes but also its failures.

Nintendo is not falling "a bit", look at the results and the predictions, not only for 3DS, also DS and mostly Wii, none of then reaching anything close to the targets. And what is way worse, the sales curve has negative acceleration for all Nintendo consoles, so everything is expected to be worse. The price reduction of 3DS might just level a bit the negative acceleration for 3DS but will never compensate the loses with DS and Wii. 3DS price reduction seems to be a desperate movement to keep in business at least until WiiU release.
ATM 3DS sales are even lower than PSP and going down. Wii sales are lower than PS3 and equivalent to XBoX, and going down too. Only DS has a slightly up tendency, but now with about 500.000 units less than PS3 in just 2011.

Nintendo is going down in flames and free fall, and Vita is not even available yet. Expect to see more delays with third companies announced games expecting to have a noticeable increase in 3D sales (Metal Gear will not be the last one), something that will hardly happen will just Mario and Luigi there. And what is worse, with these numbers no third party will venture in new 3DS projects.

I feel that if nintendo wants to come back to a good spot they need to really be more open when it comes to building an online community.

God, I love Nintendo. Sacrifice, humility... No other Corporation on the planet works as close to the heart ( to say nothing of Governments. ).

And still you have the haters, bashers, and all-around jaded gamers who will never be satisfied. Who, truth be told, are doing more damage to the industry, than they realize.

Sheesh everyone is freaking out over something caused by a mistake with the 3DS's launch. xD
I highly doubt they'll go down that easily, lol.

I do find it amusing to read some of these comments about company failure and bankruptcy!! All companies across the world are having a tough time at the moment - most will ride out the bad times.

The 3DS was not helped by
a) Priced too high
b) It was launched too soon so not enough decent games at launch/three months on
c) Dreadful marketing.

As with the recent Wii price cut, there will be a huge increase in sales of the 3DS. At least now the adverts state clearly that the machine is 'Not DS, but 3DS" - you do have to be that plain and simple to get your message across.

Decent games are coming - even the eShop now has one 3DSware game! At least Mario Kart and Super Mario will be here by Christmas - these should have been available at launch then this 'crisis' would never have happened.

I remember getting the DS at launch - for the first year sales were also slow to pick up - it wasn't until 2 years later when the Lite came along (and by then a decent library of games) that the DS really flew off the shelves.

@40: Sacrifice and humility seem to be exclusively Japanese traits in today's world. We could learn a lot from Nintendo's decision.

You know something, if it weren't for the shareholders I don't think Nintendo would be panicking as much as they are right now in terms of taking pay cuts and stuff. This is really just so the shareholders don't lose any money.

I think Nintendo needs to actually stop worrying about constantly satisfying it's shareholders and actually focus on satisfying it's fans a bit more.

Could this be the fall of Nintendo? I really hope not! With what I've read and saw of the Wii U at E3 my impressions of it aren't very optimistic. I think Nintendo should pull the plug on the Wii U get back in the drawing room and come up with something else and to start listening to their loyal fans. I'm hoping the price drop of the 3DS do start bringing sales back up, as I do think its a great piece of hardware which I'm really enjoying at the moment. Its just a lot of the 3rd party developers are still really unsure about the Wii U and no real big players have come up to the front saying there's big name franchises coming to the system, also how Nintendo handles their online services are terrible. These are dark times indeed for Nintendo and I think if Nintendo don't radically shake themselves we could see another Sega incident where Nintendo become a publisher only.

Ha, these comments are delightful. So many flavors of bizarre.

I have lost all faith. Nintendo has abandoned us.

Reading some people's responses here and seeing worry about Nintendo's demise is just shocking. Little history lesson for you guys, the Xbox 360's infamous RROD cost Microsoft over $1 BILLION dollars in extended warranties and stock prices fell, the PS3 had a slow start due to prices on SKU's, weaker and buggy ports of 360 games and look at it now. What is it with people expecting Nintendo to fail at the first sign of negative growth, do you people remember how much they made from 2006 to 2009?

@Kirk: The thing is that Nintendo wasn't satisfying it's fans and that is why this happened. They got cocky and made some really bad decisions so now they are paying for it. I think that they needed this wake-up call. At least now they are taking steps to make things right. I just hope that they will learn from their mistakes and turn the company around.

@NintyFan
That's what I was going to say. An American company CEO would lay off half his workforce before cutting his own wage a penny. It's just "The American Way". "Hurray for me, and up yours" (to put it kindly) seems to be our motto these days.

This is a noble move by Iwata and one that I respect. But, in my opinion, it also gives a bad, desperate appearance. And you don't want to see that from THE MAN at Nintendo. This could make stockholders even MORE nervous. Everything Nintendo's doing makes them look desperate. Which makes me worry more so than ever if we're ever going to see Wii U... or any other Nintendo console. The wheels seem to be coming off at such a rapid pace. Every day, more bad news!

Not sure how the Japanese government operates. If a company is "too big to fail" if they give them the helping hand the US gave to banks and automakers (Still makes me want to rip something to shreds that BILLIONAIRES got a bail out and struggling families losing their homes got JACK). But, there can't be many more companies more iconic and significant to Japan than Nintendo Co. Ltd., and more deserving of a bailout if things get that bad!

Oooh, poor Nintendo shareholders. I don't feel sorry for these guys at all. The employers will be the one that will pay the price as always. Cause Miyamoto may lose 30% of his salary but many people will lose their jobs and their ability to feed their family. Nintendo stock value will grow again strong.

This made me sad

You think that's generous you should've seen what they donated to the earthquake victims.

Nintendo is great, I know they'll get back on there feet. This was a big mistake, but eventually they will recover. Btw, they still have lots of money.. right?

I know he's still gonna be earning more money each month than most of us can even dream of making in decades, but this was still a very honourable move. Respect

Anyway, I'm doing my part to get more ppl to support Ninty and buy the 3DS (even though that's not saying much considering I live in the tiny island of Malta ) Most gamers over here were kinda reluctant to buy the 3DS at that price or simply couldn't afford it, and most of them were just waiting for a price drop. I'm sure there are similar situations elsewhere, so the situation is gonna improve.

But the thing with the 3DS is that one of its main selling points, the 3D effect, isn't easy to show to consumers (ex. how are you going to effectively show it in on a TV-ad?), so the 3DS really needs to spread via word of mouth

Feel really bad that Iwata has to cut his salary in half just to "please" people. Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made.

Things will turn out great in the long run

Iwata is such a solid dude. It's really refreshing to see Nintendo stand up and take accountability for their mistakes. It's clear to me that the company does at least care to some degree. Hopefully they'll heed all this with the Wii U and get it right from the start.

Uh oh.

Do you guys have the most remote idea about what might be Iwata or Miyamoto yearly salary plus bonuses? As reference: US$ 2.1 million yearly for Iwata.

Wow...I'm almost speechless. Not only is he taking a 50% pay-cut (almost unheard of), but he's accepting responsibility for something that was not his fault alone. In a world where almost every other CEO would be laying people off and taking a 50% pay increase, I cannot tell you how refreshing this is to see. Company presidents around the world should follow this man around on their knees and take notes. It's amazing that he's sacrificing his own money for the good of the company - Again, it's almost unheard of. Now I see why we Nintendo fans are the way we are. We're always so happy and forgiving - we love Nintendo. It's apparent to me now that this man is a large part of the reason that we love Nintendo. Nintendo fans can rest easy knowing that the money that they put into their consoles will be used well by this gentleman. I have so much respect for Nintendo, Nintendo fans, and Iwata.. I really hope they manage to pull things together, because I would hate to see such a rarity and such a gem be swept aside.

Best of luck Iwata!

This is called my worst nightmare, NINTENDO CANNOT DIE. What else could I so with all those extra hours when I am not working? Seriously though, this is serious, the only original game company from the original console wars that still makes consoles can't end. A huge part of me would die, mostly my inner child and sense of imagination

How many people can make you feel like you are actually the Hero of Time and then instantly transport you to a devastated land filled with Metroid and Space Pirates. Nintendo is what makes everything ok at the end of a hard day. They have been truly loyal to their fans for over 25 years and I honestly don't think it will end anytime soon.

LONG LIVE NINTENDO!

@WolfRamHeart You took the words right out of my mouth - erm, fingers - but I wished I was wrong, but I called this about two years after they launched the Wii and they went full force into the casual markets (e.g. Wii Music, Wii Fit, Wii Play, etc.,) and left there core crowd sitting around for years waiting, as the Xbox/PS3 system exploded the scene with Modern Warfare, BioShock, Fallout 3, etc., games that pushed further than any before seen on home consoles. So many gamers made the jump while waiting for a reason to pick up their Wii-motes again, and obviously most of them haven't looked back, but what's worse is that Apple has gained the majority of the casual markets now and the Wii U hasn't gained much attention with either of the crowds, which puts us to where we are now.

I think they'll turn things around, but they've got some big decisions that need to be made ahead of them and if they don't, the future (my opinion) could be questionable.

Iwata makes around 2.1mill a year(supposedly) and that equals out to be around 178,000 a month...about triple what i make a year. Now its only 89,000 a month more than i make a year still. He also still has all his savings from the past 10+yrs. Hes fine! He better just know what hes doing with the Wii U(God please no Friend Codes!)

@Mikau94
Despite things Nintendo do to infuriate me, I feel the exact same way. The world would feel pitch black without Nintendo. Not sure how interested I'd be in continuing to be a gamer (especially in an increasingly Apple touch screen gaming world so shallow that I detest with all my being) without Nintendo. Not sure it'd even continue to be a hobby. To me, video games would pretty much die with Nintendo. Thinking about it is like thinking of one of those post-apocalyptic worlds you see in movies.

if push came to shove they could amalgamate with sega that would be mad but i dont think push is gonna get anywhere near shove★

Guys...seriously, Nintendo isn't going to die...you think lower than expected 3DS sales and an uncertain future about the WiiU is gonna destroy them? Heck, they survived in the past despite the Virtual Boy disaster and the fact that the N64 and GameCube were outsold by their rivals. Relax dudes, these guys know what they're doing, they'll turn this around soon enough

@13 I've seen plenty of 3DS adverts. The problem is, nobody watches commercials anymore, I usually go grab a snack or drink during adverts, also now we can record our shows and skip commercials, TV advertising isn't the best place to advertise anymore.

If I saw £500m wandering out of my bank account, I'd like to know where the hell that went. But poor Shiggy and Iwata having to drop their pay. I think if they kept the price below 200 they would've got more sales to be honest.

Atleast what they're doing is better than Sony, they keep their prices the same for years! Nintendo still rule the gaming world.

xDemon720x, probably you dont know that Sony was selling PS3 for a price lower than its production cost for years (yes, they were losing money with every PS3 you buy), while Nintendo was selling Wii for five times its production cost for years too.

Hard to feel bad for them when they won't release Xenoblade to the U.S. It's like they're allergic to making profit right now.

Iwata have more money?

@Mandoble
5 times is an exaggeration.

by this time next year we'll have forgotten that this even happened.

Although the Wii and DS sold like crazy, things seem not to go that well. To cut your salary in half isn't a sign of prosperity i think?! Things cannot be blamed on the '3DS sales' alone, it's simply not possible. Too much invested? Taken a risk that didn't turn out right? I really, really wonder what went wrong...

@58. Exactly! One of the silliest things they did was to remove the 3D sample video. it was the best way to get people interested without them having to get 'into' a game or anything, or be antisocial where there were a few people.

He is doing a great thing. Whereas other companies may have made cuts elsewhere including losing staff he has done an amazing thing by cutting his salery in half. Sure he isnt going to be broke or going to starve or anything, but if he hadnt have taken the hit and it was left to cutting jobs, those he would have had to let go would have suffered terribly.
Well done, Nintendo has just shot up in my expectations.

It's interesting to me that the overall tone of the comments on IGN have been much more positive. I give Iwata credit for doing this, and I like that he takes the blame as the leader even if he wasn't solely responsible for poor sales.

This experience should be good for Nintendo, as they were showing definite signs of arrogance. Hopefully they will get more competitive with their pricing all around (maybe Mario Kart DS can finally get a price drop before 7 comes out?), as well as their services (online gaming, Club Nintendo, online community, etc.).

Regardless of any pet peeves I have, I love Nintendo games and respect them both for taking bold risks and being willing to take responsibility for their mistakes. I think the 3DS will be fine once the killer apps start coming out for it, but Nintendo has weathered storms like this before and still managed to be modestly profitable thanks to software sales. They should be fine, but ultimately they are an entertainment company. If one source of entertainment ends, like a favorite TV show, I'll usually still find some other way to unwind in my limited free time.

I think it's funny that Iwata bringing home roughly $2m USD per year is a big deal. Take a look at some what some American CEOs make.

@komicturtle92, x5 an exageration? 275€ retail price, 60US$ (41€) building cost, do the math, and you still have there distribution expenses and retail profit untouched (75€ per unit, which probably is way lower than that). I call this robbery.

And that robbery has become quite evident and notorious with the sudden drop of 100€ in 3DS price, while they will keep good margin and profit per unit.

wait 710,000 world wide, I thought I read Japan was the 1st to go over a Million units ????? ok im confused

I'll support you until the end, Nintendo. You filled the void that my father left behind!

710,000 worldwide in the last 2? months. Whereas the first month shifted like 2.1 million or something.

@34
How in the world is it Sony's fault that the 3DS launch was crap?

Oh no, Iwata can't buy another gold car this year! He has to still use last year's model

I'm not sure I like where this is all going.......

Nintendo needs to get back N to it. Hardcore gaming is the only way, we need a modern day N64 and gameboy color. Nintendo needs to stop being so soft! Why is everything baby blue and white, DIS AINT NO BABY SHOWER!!!

Ouch, 50% salary drop? Maybe that will change after the 3DS goes on sale for 170.
Maybe it will sell as well as the DS after that.
Maybe.

I bet Nintendo will be releasing Pandora's Tower, Last Story and Xenoblade in North America now. Gotta make up all that lost money somehow.

@82 LOL. You really think the 3DS is selling at a profit now? If you checked recent news you'd realize that it's being sold at a loss now after the price cut.

Ah that is expected, and it's good that he took the cut. Hopefully they learned something for this.

As long as they don't commit seppuku, I'm fine.

@20 Your post is a perfect example of biased hyperbole, something too many people on this forum are guilty of. First off, my ZuneHD has an OLED screen, it is absolutely GORGEOUS has sat overnight in my car in both intense canadian winter AND 90+ summer weather. And it is still pristine. The Vita's specs/launch titles have not even finalized and you've already passed judgement on it because you're a nintendo fan. I bought my DS 5 years ago, and it has largely sat and collected dust because other than Mario Kart and NSMB, I have not had any interest in it because the games that made the original gameboy so great are missing. Maybe I've grown up a bit, but games like Harvest Moon or Max Wright don't intrigue me. I miss the shmups and beatemups of the old days. I'm passing on the 3DS in favour of the Vita for those reasons. With the Vita, I can buy the two awesome PSP God of War games, and there will probably be more, as well as the fact the Vita will be powerful enough for some good fps action, with its dual thumbsticks. I don't buy consoles just because they are made by one company. I buy the one I feel will give me the games I like. In this case, it looks like the Vita will get my portable dollars.

Wow. In just a few months Nintendo went from number 1 in sales, to falling a bit. And their only competition in the portable market is iOS and Android devices. Once the Vita hits, Nintendo will have a big battle on their hands.

Here's hoping the Wii U does well in it's first few months.

Iwata is so humble yet honest, a rarity for CEO's of major corporations. Jack Tretton and Kaz Hirai (Sony) could learn a few lessons in humility & honesty from Iwata.

@207KD

LOL, you think the Game Boy / Color was a "hardcore" game system? There wasn't even such a thing back in those days, that terminology didn't exist back then.

@SirGreatNose

This 100%. It is very rare for the CEO of a huge company to be so humble and honest. Iwata deserves my respect.

I'm still pissed that Nintendo won't offer GBA games as a permanent feature of the Virtual Console. NES games stay but GBA games are just a temporary offer? Where's the logic in that?

Without Nintendo I would become an avid classic gamer. Probably only get a system for future kids but I'd collect as many Nintendo games as possible to keep the spirit alive. I'd also follow wherever Mario went. Kinda like when a sports team is forced to relocate elsewhere.

They should act from their money loss. Starting with releasing eShop Pay Cards. It's not the 3DS it's price that failed many to buy, it's the system itself.

People are freaking out before anything truly big has happened.
Seriously, most of the games people are looking forward to on the 3DS aren't even out yet and people are saying that no one will ever get a 3DS ever again! And Nintendo will die! And oh no doom and gloom forever!

It's not like their DS and Wii profits were enough to handle this blow - oh no, not at all. They're doomed FOREVER!

Iwata and Miyamoto are seriously just doing an honorable business move. ...it's honorable to do, AND it's a business move.

It's a little too early to count out Nintendo. They have O% debt and 14 billion in unencumbered cash. That 14 billion is spending money for all intents and purposes. According to Forbes Nintendo is a good investment right now.
http://blogs.forbes.com/wallaceforbes/2011/07/26/video-game-industry-isnt-playing-around-why-nintendo-is-a-good-investment/

@Metroid_Rebirth Bear in mind that was written before the price cut and share price decrease. Forbes may not give quite such a strong recommendation now

If I screw up a lot less at my job than the fools at Nintendo have with 3DS and even the Wii so far this year with the utter lack of software, I get fired. These people still get to keep their jobs and still makes tons of money, I don't feel sorry for them one bit, try not screwing up the launch of a system next time and also maybe for once take a risk on some unkown games rather than just feeding us the same old Mario Party garbage.

/me cheerleads for Nintendo.

Did he just commit financial seppuku?

Well done Iwata, Sony should take a leaf out of your book with their PSP and PS3 sales lags over the years. Sony try to be the Armani of the technology world - arrogantly so. The PSP and PS3 prices are ridiculously high considering how long they've been on the market. Even the Wii has been reduced in price ffs

Oh my lord, CEOs took pay cuts! It's the end of the world for Nintendo! Wah, wah, wah.....

The modern equivilant of the Samurai falling on his own sword.

@18: Yeah, they'll survive! At least he admits it was sorta his fault, and not all Nintendo of America's like what went on with Sega in the 90's!

@James
Look I'm not saying that Nintendo hasn't made some mistakes, they obviously have, but I still think they are not in a dire situation quite yet. I think Nintendo can't afford to take the same kind of risks that Sony and Microsoft can, because Sony and Microsoft kind of have a safety net in that they are connected to major multimedia business conglomerates. That's why Nintendo operates so conservatively. Iwata taking a pay cut in my eyes is just a CEO taking responsibility for his actions. The video game business really comes down to one thing. Games. And when the 3DS and the Wii U get the games, the stock will sky rocket again.

When you release Red 3ds in UK, I will buy one straight away.
Because it is a nearly perfect product.
The only failing is Region lock.
PS Vita doesn't interest me at all - wrong kind of touch screen for playing games. GF has a PSP, it just sits there in the cupboard whilst we play DS....

Ouch, the rich get poorer?

Way to "man up" and take responsiblity Iwata. A lot of CEO's could learn from you. But the slow sales of the 3DS is not all Iwata fault. The great east Japan earthquake and the Economy is not the greatest. But way to lead by example. The U.S.A government could learn from Iwata.
The house and senate.
I will now buy a 3DS. I wasn't going to originally. With the price drop that makes it more reasonable. Plus Iwata has taken one for the team. I respect that So I buy the 3DS. Nintendo is trying. Way to go Iwata

They'll be back up on their feet before you know it.
Didn't a similar thing like this happen with the Virtual Boy and N64?

In Japanese culture, and in much Asian culture in general, there is the concept of "saving face". If you do something to dishonor someone else without provocation, you must save face. This means you must do something equally damaging to yourself, willingly, or you are a dishonorable person. When Sony execs bowed for the media, they were placing their heads closer to the ground than those they wished forgiveness from, a sign of humility.
When two Japanese businessmen meet to discuss a deal, they talk but they do not hold eye contact with each other. This is considered rude and a deal-breaker.
Iwata-san cut his salary in half. We're out $80 but he's out a million. He is an honorable man.

I just hope Nintendo will learn from its mistakes, the 3DS will take off now and that they can land a hit with the WiiU. Instead of being too frightened of some shareholders that only want quick profit. So all in all i want Nintendo to take their time with their new babies instead of further rushing things. For long term success you often have to overcome some rough times.

When you're already a multi-millionaire, it's easy to cut your salary in half. So this isn't really saying much, its more or less a "symbolic gesture" than anything else He'll still get oodles of stock options, etc. What he should do is take NO SALARY for a year lol

This hurts for Iwata, Miyamoto and the other people. Hopefully this gives them even more motivation to make the 3DS a succes!