Nintendo Posts 70 Billion Yen Net Loss in Past Quarter

Soon Nintendo will need to learn they can't rely on old games and Mario, Pokemon, et al.

@Aviator I'm sure Nintendo will see that when it posts a profit from the next quarter when Mario, Mario Kart and Zelda are all out.

Hopefully they'll release the Wii U with a decent launch price (and games).

1.14 Billion NZD
That a lot of cheese

Nintendo has been relying on Mario, Pokemon, and old games for years. It's worked before and it will work again. You can't ride the wave forever, sooner or later you gotta paddle back out and catch the next one.

Working for myself I have found that business is down all round, And people are being more conservative with their cash. But this will be good for ninty because they are the only real company out with real, decent content. They will have another good christmas. Not like previous years, but good all the same. No1 console and handheld sales, and softwear. just to rub the "COMPETITIONS" face in it!

What Nintendo needs to do urgently is to release a load of the casual games which has made it so much profit. I know co-called 'hardcore' people will not want this, but they need to keep their casual gamers involved in the next generation of consoles.

Where is 3DS Brain Training, or follow-ups to Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit, DS casual games, etc etc etc??

No suprise at all. There was nothing to buy anyway. No real 3DS games, no Wii Games, both their online Stores ran dry and now they are releasing the whole 3DS line up (more or less) all at once so nobody can afford all of them. Hope the christmas sales will get them back on their feet. I wish you all the best Big-N

I'm not worried at all by this. This is a transitional year for Nintendo, the Wii and DS are fading out, Wii U isnt out yet, 3DS had its problems (which I think have been addressed sufficiently, I dont think Nintendo needs to do anything now).
It's fine. The only one who screams now are shareholders who only think about money.
Nintendo took some risks with the way they released 3DS, but they could take risks because they sit on a HUGE pile of cash from the last years.

@ThumperUK: The casul games train has departed. That story is over. Who buys casual games for retails prices when iOS games are everywhere for a dollar or two...

Why do people say "sitting on a large pile of cash" is a sign of company security?

Quite the opposite, actually. If a company has a large bank balance, but it not making appropriate investments, the rest of the market is going to develop past it.

Which is actually exactly what is happening to Nintendo right now. It should take its 950 billion yen and build a friggin online system that is actually comparable to... well, anyone's.

@YellowChocobo Better than not having a large amount of cash though, amirite?

@YellowChocobo: If you're affraid that "the market" is going to develop past Nintendo then you're right about online. But that's it. Nintendo has a long history of being the innovator in the industry that everyone else then follows. I have no doubt that they will continue to be the leaders or wayshowers here.

It's starting to annoy me how some people think they know what Nintendo should do or should not... Yes, the company has a slow year. But give them a break. Have you forgotten what Nintendo is all about and what they have achieved in the past (innovative driver since NES, high quality franchises, incredible financial success in recent years).

Just because it isnt going so well this year in some areas isnt a reason to jump ship on big N and declare their doom and failure.

TBH all of nintendo`s platforms have been pretty much dull so far this year. so it`s no big suprise that it`s profits are down,
i just hope that with all the good games coming out over the christmas holidays that it`s a sign of things to come and that the good times will return.

Just imagine if they would have strengthened their US lineup with some Wii RPGS throughout this year. But what do I know? Gamers wanting games to play on their system. That's just silly.

@TheAmazingRaccoon
Dude. In New Zealand... that's really not a lot of cheese.

the real problems are simple; they didnt go for the 2 winning condition in videogaming:
1- horsepower for home consoles. That's all there is. Third parties have budget, motivation and SELL charts to use that more than a gadget based console.
2- cheaper games for the handheld. its sad, but its true. the iphone took a large part of the pie, nintendo should take back what was his.

i love nintendo, yeah. but i do prefer deep and beautiful gaming. This is what we can have now with our games. Before, we couldnt have stunning graphics, se we mostly relied of gameplay novelty. Now we can have both with the ps3, the xbox or the pc. Where does the Wii or the Wii U stands ? nowhere near. those nintendo console rely on their franchised characters and their fan-based consumers.
unless they come back wih raw power like the ps4 or the next xbox will too, they wont make it. no way. i dont even plan for a Wii U even if it features awesome link,zelda,mario or whatever franchised games. i didnt get a Wii even if skyward sword looks awesome.
BUT they remain champions with the handheld console. they should focus on the 3DS more than anything. screw that Wii-U, it wont sell as good as the next playstation or xbox.
make quality games, bring third party devs in the mood and dominate the handheld market like the DS did.

@Jettiblue - the vast majority of Nintendo DS's casual market are the sort of people who do not have smartphones and are still willing to pay £20-£30 for a decent game. By only targetting so-called hardcore people, these are the same people who have smartphones and therefore are starting to expect cheaper games. Also, I have a smartphone, and have yet to find any game which comes anywhere near a Mario game for example.

The new 3DS games coming out should change that.

Though a huge boost to sales should be something like "Weekly Free Game" or something, where we get an old free Game & Watch game or when a 3D Classic comes out for 1 week you can get it for free. That would be a huge bosst for nintendo and a loss for smartphones.

Nintendo relies on all their old stuff, it's always worked and they a ton of stuff to use. Of course each generation Nintendo makes new IPs, but for some reason gamers like to forget about them or ignore they exist when talking about Nintendo. Weird.

I think Nintendo should improve the 3DS on its graphics and have something like the xbox live so you can put on a headset and talk to friends but i don't think it should cost money. that would be cool and i bet lots of people would buy it, even if they don't do that they will probably survive, i just can't see nintendo dying.

There are bigger things to worry about than a silly online system- what Nintendo has works. Let's move away from such trivial things.

and another thing nintendo should do is lower the price of there DS games to $25 and the 3DS games to be $35. tat would be a good idea.

Reading these comments reminds me of armchair quaterbacks from the sports section the day after a loss.

@Ryno hahaha so true
i have high hopes for the 3DS. nintendo still has a powerful hand into the handheld market. theyre the best. just started slow with the new gen. the ps3 did so, and to me, its the best out there now.

because to me, the handheld is not meant for huge detailed graphics like a ps3. its meant to be quick gaming, fun,innovative and new stuff. so far, thats what theyre doing. slowly yeah, but surely.
But really...nintendo loss the home console war, get over it and support the 3DS instead!

I think it's time Miyamoto breaks out that new IP he's been talking about.

I hope this means they'll start listening to their fans now....

meh ive seen worse, theyll bounce back up, besides I think its the fanboys super high standards they think ANY(not only Nintendo) company will do EVERYTHING they want, I know nintendos listening, they just can listen to everyone who whines

The major reason for the loss that has been recorded for the quarter from what I have read is attributable to Foreign Exchange losses of 52.4 billion due to the majority of sales occurring in international markets. As the Yen has been quite strong, this is beyond Nintendo's control really and is up to the market to determine the FX rates. Although, releasing more software wouldn't hurt either!

@30
"I hope this means they'll start listening to their fans now"

I wouldn't be so sure about that. The Wii and DS were their biggest successes of all time, and neither was the traditional kind of gaming console that vocal fans wanted or expected. (I'm a supporter of Nintendo's change in strategy there, but it's important to recognize that the "core gamer" fans were often dragged along kicking and screaming.)

@KomicZ- I do agree that what nintendo is doing right now works, i mean i love all my nintendo systems, there great! i just think that online gaming would be good, but if they improved the graphics that would be awesome.

Ouch! I hope there will changes at the big house of Nintendo.