Last week was a rather notable one for Nintendo and its smart device strategy. In addition to announcing financial results President Tatsumi Kimishima made a presentation to investors in which he announced that both the Nintendo Account system and first smart device app, Miitomo, would arrive in March 2016 as opposed to this year.
The combination of the delay and nature of the Miitomo app didn't lead to a good reaction from investors, with a 9% drop in Nintendo's share value. Unfortunately for Nintendo that trend continued on 30th October, with the company's share value dropping further to bring a 15% decline over the course of two days; that knocked around $4 billion off the company's overall value.
That decline is reportedly the most rapid seen since 2011, so regardless of arguments in Miitomo's favour it's evident that the app - and its delayed release - aren't sitting well with a number of investors that, let's not forget, had driven a large increase in Nintendo's share value since the DeNA partnership was announced earlier in the year.
The positive is that the 2nd November trading has only brought a minor dip, as you can see above, bringing a little stability back to Nintendo's share value.
It seems that Kimishima-san and his colleagues have a lot of work to do in convincing investors of the merits in their smart device plans. It'll be a fascinating six months.
[source bloomberg.com]
Comments 70
Weeeeeeeeeeeee! Its a roller coaster ride of investors wanting answers, fans screaming about everything, and Nintendo going "meh, here's a silly app in like, i dunno, 6 months, 3 months, a year, whatevs".
Ooooo its gonna be fun as a Nintendo stockholder
@russellohh Anyone who knows anything about Nintendo knows that Nintendo does what Nintendo wants and what they feel is right. (They're not always right, but they've gotten this far.)
People heard "Nintendo" and "Mobile" and immediately jumped into the shares expecting Nintendo to suddenly release their huge hit Mario titles on Mobile, even though they said they wouldn't do that right from the very beginning (they'd build apps from the ground up).
This is just the people with that mindset selling the shares they bought back when the announcement first happened.
Meh, this stock is always up and down and, looking at the USD price, it's still about $4 above what it was right before they saw the massive jump from the DeNA announcement back in March. The people selling are probably mostly those who bought back in March and don't really understand Nintendo.
DOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!
No seriously like what did they expect. The first time people saw the Wii, at the very least people were intrigued. Nintendo is praying with this game that will come out in 2017 at this point that people will remember Nintendo is a video game company and try it out based on that.
Ouch. It's clear that a lot of the new investors (after the DeNA partnership) considered last week a "make or break" moment.
An app that looks like it was made by a few developers in a home-office was not what they were expecting, whodathunkit.
How fickle, such a short term outlook from share holders. I'd suggest it's quite pragmatic to start out with a mii app. I doubt anyone expected a super mario app and if they did then they aren't clued into how nintendo work.
Classic Wii situation, I hope: Everyone is like "WTF is this?" And then it will print money.
While I appreciate holding up MiiTomo as a scapegoat w/ the photo, I think the actual Bloomberg article tells a slightly different story:
"Nintendo Mobile Game Delay Triggers $4 Billion Value Drop"
The article never focuses on back in March Nintendo said it would have an app game out in Fall 2015 and now it isn't coming out until March 2016. And company that announces a big new project in the spring is coming out in time or the holidays and then right before the holidays delays it until the end of winter is going to take a stock hit. Even EA took a hit due to Mirrors Edge Catalyst being delayd.
And it isn't just Miitomo, My Nintendo is also delayed. And Starfox Zero. And Zelda U is more than just delayed, it's completely MIA.
An dif al of that is delayed, then when will the paid apps be coming out? And when will NX come out? It was anouncd back inMarch at the DeNA deal as well, some invesotrs may av ebough th estock thinking it was launching in 2016. MAyb enow w/ all the other delays they are guessing Ntinedo might delay the NX launch as well.
Seems like a good idea is to sell the stock now and delay buying it back until Nintendo gives them some news that isn't an announcement about a delay, b/c those are all the announcements Ntinedo makes these days, delays and promises of things to come that they can't talk about yet. .
Delaydo
@Morph Pffft its the nature of shareholders to be silly. There are charts you can watch where everytime Steve Jobs sneezed, the stock dropped 3% within seconds.
Oh, and I think Miitomo is fine. Had it been announced at the March DeNA meeting as something that was releasing in a few weeks as "Mii on Mobile" everybody would have been like - ok, that's a nice start to get Miis on mobile and people interested and waiting for the real games to come later. But this isn't what everybody was expecting as a big secretive announcement 6 months later. There is no reason that a Mii on Mobile app needed to be so hush hush top secret, it's not that big of a deal, it's barley more than a webpage for Miis like the Miiverse page.
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/guide/terms
Too much hype for too long, not enough delivery. But it's a fine expansion of Wii U and 3DS integration onto mobile.
I'm gonna be honest, screw Miitomo and Miis.
Investors are worse than fanboys when it comes to the way they behave, not to mention any automated computer trading that would have been triggered automatically by a sudden drop.
............I want a Fortune Street sequel. TwT
Ouch.
And as a costumer I vote with my wallet. They have unique, Japanese style of Management far different than western short term oriented type. Really what does stocks say about the real health of the market or company? A couple of years ago IBM had much more market cap than MS lol And was it better than MS? No, just irrational "markets" speculating and basing their investment strategies on determined potential news. So screw u Gordon Gekko, go Ninty!!
i think some of the flat lining from the investors brief is, in addition to all the other valid points, nintendo picked arguably their least appreciated characters for the title. i for one was hoping for something a little more centered on the uncanny valley like Pikmin, but what Mii's represent are the least interesting, least lovable, least character driven IP that nintendo has recently produced. it's not a strong outing and investors know it.
the question, as always with nintendo, is whether they intentionally led with an appearance of weakness, ninja-tendo style, or not.
only time can tell
Good time to buy Nintendo stock?
Hmm might try jumping on buying some stock now...
@Yorumi More them riding out what's left of the lifespans of the current systems during the transition period. They know what they're doing: prepare for NX and the future while riding out the Wii U and 3DS.
Maybe Nintendo should develop a sim game where you build a software development company - and we can all learn what they think is the key to success. Cuz I don't know what they are thinking.
Anybody explain really briefly how shares work for a company? What effect is there on operating profits/bottom line? Or a link to a dunces guide.
nvm. Issuing stock raises money for a company to invest in the business. This is better than loans because there is no interest, no paying back. The buyer essentially is entitled to a share of the profits, usually paid in dividends, though there is no obigation for company to pay dividends. Most people make money on shares because they generally appreciate over time, meaning they can be bought when the price is low and sold when it is higher. Decisions companies make have an effect on share prices as people consider whether they are likely to go up or down in value. If a company goes bankrupt, shareholders have a right to claim money once all debts are paid. Nintendo is far from that. Share prices are going down now because people think that the company's shares will not be worth more later so best to get rid of them now. If I had money enough, I'd be buying now.
Well, that was to be expected. Nothing schocking, and not really impacting, either. Cue next year, everything will probably be fine.
@ThomasBW84
I'm no expert here regarding how stock market works and I assume others as well. What does it mean for Nintendo in general? Is Nintendo doomed? Should we worry as a Nintendo gamer? Please enlighten us.
"bringing a little stability back to Nintendo's share value."
Did you say stability?
Well the 3DS has a lot of this stuff, just give the share value some of it!
@NewAdvent
"Promised" is a strong word.
There is no such thing as "promising" a game will release at a certain time.
This is the video game industry. Take a look around. 50% of everything announced gets delayed, sometimes more than once.
Not to say it's a good thing, but to act like it's a "broken promise" is taking things too far. Slated release dates are always subject to change. There is never any "promise" associated with them. Unless they explicitly state "We promise you it will release on this day". In that case, sure, then it would be a broken promise.
Good time to buy Nintendo stock.
People thought Nintendo and mobile gaming and went chaching and bought in. Then when it turns out Nintendo aren't killing the golden goose by releasing a bunch of high earning freemium cramp that can make millions, some of them get cold feet and decide to sell.
But still a higher share price than before the DeNA announcement.
@Yorumi or they just didn't feel the need to constantly tell fans every day what's happening in the company. They are still a largely secretive Japanese company, they won't show their hand too soon on anything.
@CapnKatz possibly some decided that Nintendo's approach was too long term and wanted to change.
@Yorumi I thought the company only receives money from the Initial Pay Out? Or can companies keep selling new shares?
I wonder if this means now's the time to buy stock... hmm...
@Yorumi Thanks. It sure is complicated - common stocks, preferred stocks, securities etc. Not time to worry overmuch about Nintendo yet, though.
Back to where it began before rising on March, right? Sounds like the same investors bought and sell it, the investors that gave all their hope for Nintendo smartphone games.
@russellohh Let's be honest; after one of the investors suggested that Nintendo should put Super Mario Bros on phones, then charge people money to make Mario jump higher, it's OBVIOUS that these investors are not gamers and do not understand the market Nintendo is trying to sell to.
They just see "Oooo, big IP, let's MONETIZE it and sell it to casuals on phones! $_$" and proceed to whine when they don't get what they want.
@smashbrolink i would barely play a mario cellphone game, but if Nintendo made one that took them 3 months to make and brought in crazy flappy bird money, well, that's more money to go towards developing fire emblem and pokemon real time games..
@Splatburst Nintendo's not doomed, no
I normally see what's happened with this stuff after major announcements, but overall Nintendo's still in a better position than it was a year ago today in terms of share value etc.
@SanderEvers Wii U has been out for 3 years and still hasn't had enough games, didn't stop it from coming out though. PS4 has been out for 2 years and some people think that hasn't had enough games either. Better to put it out holiday 2016 w/ no games than May 2017 w/ games. My guess is after the slow start w/ 3DS Nintendo will never release a new console in that time frame again. Re-iterations are OK, I don't know when Wii Mini came out.
I'd be upset too if I was an investor. Nintendo's first cell phone outing not only pertains to Mii's but has Mii in the name of it?? Sheesh, Nintendo needs to ditch Mii's altogether, imo.
Doooomed!
Now illustrated by graphs.
I wonder how many people are still going to continue to argue that delaying is good for everything.
@Darknyht At least they put their money where their mouth is, rather than just putting their mouths all over the internet.
@ikki5 As opposed to rushing things out is good? Tell that to the PC owners of Batman: Arkham Knight who are confirmed never to get a fixed version. Atleast they've got a broken piece of software WB have given up fixing? Lucky them.
Delaying might seem bad for now but I'd rather have a better product in 2016 than a worse product forever in exchange for a 2015 release.
@Sakura
@Splatburst
no effect. all these shares are already traded, it's all secondary market. So whatever the share price is, it has no economical effect on Nintendo. But some of Nintendo executives have shares themselves/options so it's always good for the share price to be high for the company, but directly it doesn't matter one bit. It's a perception thing, and affects only the investors.
@ikki5 Better to delay the product if it means a better product in the end. Less damage than not delaying it and delivering a broken product that ensures long term damage to the brand. Assassin's Creed is a good example of that.
@SanderEvers It has to release this next year. Nintendo can not afford to wait until 2017.
@Yorumi Well at least they haven't delayed a demo that's supposed to be an apology for the game being delayed
@JaxonH You hit the nail on the head my friend
@Wolfgabe He always hits the nail on the head.
Well, almost always, at least
No one ever said investors are savvy about video games. Not meaning to insult; just pointing that out.
This would be a great time to buy Nintendo stock.
It is interesting all of the arguments pro-Nintendo due to existing for so long as a company. It is important to remember that their current foray is as video game entertainment company and lets be honest, at that they are failing massively right now. Regardless of a 100 plus year history of attempts at finding the "blue ocean" after their card games. Look at successful western tech company Apple. They are the top of the game in terms of computer technology and GASP! They do not play by the same rules as Nintendo.
Many of us who are fan boys just want to see Nintendo succeed (as a video game entertainment company). We remember the golden years and would like to see more. It really is simple. As a gamer, who lived those years my request really is simple. Iterative sequels to their famous IP's while experimenting for new ones and the ability to play multiplats. Some might complain that this is predictable, milking franchises, and boring. It is easy to speak this way and forget the evolution of Mario as the sidekick to Donkey Kong who then received the most popular platformer of all time on the NES. Then, Mario become beautiful with more color and ability with the more powerful hardware of SNES. On the N64 we were able to explore and platform with our renown plumber in 3-D for the first time! On GC those worlds became more alive, larger and we were able to do even more. On Wii, we could visit entire galaxies! Then, Wii U... to their credit Nintendo's 3D world was nice polish on Mario. But how do we see Nintendo really utilize the power of the Wii U in terms of Mario? Why not at least try a hyper-realistic Mario or a vast open-world Mushroom Kingdom? Take the analogy with Zelda and it is the same, Metroid was one great evolutionary iteration after another up until Wii. Sometimes, I wish Nintendo would stop seeking the "blue ocean" but would actually remember those who have the money and gave it to them to make them what they are today. They refuse and as a result, I drifted to PC gaming. My kids play the Wii U less and less opting for where their friends are, smart devices and western systems. Nintendo is slowly doing it to themselves. I really do not care how much their net worth is as Nintendo when I cannot play an updated iteration of their IP on advancing hardware.
@Pres_Shinra That's a good point, stocks just describe projected growth within the company, and are distributed as shares. They give no indication how the company is really faring, or how well they're operating, or what their style of management is. It's all basically just a glorified gambling ring. (That is prone to getting rigged, just like casinos.)
@Yorumi This year for Nintendo has been like the Sega Saturn/Dreamcast transition in 1998/1999 outside of Japan all over again. Just a whole year and a half of... Almost nothing. (Except Burning Rangers and Panzer Dragoon Saga, which were awesome titles, with PDS being able to rival the Final Fantasies of the time, but both sold almost no copies with a low print run... Sounds like Star Fox Zero and Xenoblade X, doesn't it?) History has a funny way of repeating itself.
When the Nintendo first announced it was going mobile, people complained the move would suck away core series from the main systems and replace them with watered down Smarphone versions.
And now that Miitomo has been announced, people are complaining about Nintendo... NOT doing that. Of course, it's not necessarily the same people, but still...
Nintendo Announces Plans To Develop Smartphone Games
BOOO! MARIO, LINK AND SAMUS DON'T BELONG ON SMARTPHONES! BOOOO!
Nintendo Announces Miitomo
BOOOO! GIVE US MARIO, LINK AND SAMUS! NOT THIS STUPID Mii THING! BOOOOO!
A golden opportunity turns into a game no one wanted combined with a devastating launch delay.
Typical Nintendo.
Anyone own any shares in Nintendo? I've always thought it'd be cool to own a stock of one of my favorite companies.
Hmmm...maybe nintendo needs to get some younger blood running the company...younger blood that listens to fans, knows what people want and won't delay everything that is announced.
Now, they'll tick off more people by releasing the NX...rushed out into stores, with only 1 or 2 games as it's launch titles (Sounds about right considering the 3DS only had 2 or 3, N64 only had a few and Gamecube only had a few). It's starting to show how much nintendo cares about anyone, all they seem to care about anymore is the money and thinking that everyone will buy their consoles and systems because they're 'nintendo'. I wonder when they'll find out that this is going to be a dumb move that will come back and bite them in the a$$ when they end up losing it all?
Delaying the games is the wrong thing to do...it's fine with one and possibly two, but not everything that you announce. The Wii U is struggling, and to make matters worse, they announce that they have a new system on the way...so once people hear that, who's going to rush out to stores and purchase the Wii U when they know another system is on the way...smart thinking there. Furthermore, you know Zelda U has been talked about since the Wii U was first announced...why does it take this long??? Why does any of their games take this long, and then we get a game that can be fully beaten in less than a few hours. New Super Mario U seemed rushed to me, having some glitches to it as compared to the other versions and the rest of the games aren't seeming as huge as the nintendo games on the Wii, Gamecube, N64 and further down...they seemed like their quick little titles made...I know that they are still good, but they still don't feel like they got as much love as the other systems.
With the exception of Splatoon, 2015 has been Nintendo's worst year in a long time. Nothing but delays, disappointment, and C list garbage (for the most part), and they top it off with that terrible Miitomo. Absolute toss.
I almost feel bad for Mr.Kimishima having to deal with it all.
This looks like a good time to start announcing stuff, Nintendo. Or at least put out advertising for a certain game coming out this month. (Cough! Xenoblade Chronicles X! Cough!)
@russellohh How does one go about purchasing Nintendo shares? I've been interested in getting some for quite some time now. I'm not much of an investor, but I've been a big fan since NES days and so I'd like to own a piece of my favorite company.
The problem with modern day Nintendo, imo, is that it keeps doing whatever the hell it wants but without giving the large majority of consumers what they actually want. I think companies can really only afford to go off and do what they hell they want if they are already giving the consumers all the stuff they actually want first. Otherwise it's like constantly gambling with the future, and luck should be left to the heavens.
They really should take the company private and stop being at the whim of investors if they're serious about doing their own thing. It's worked wonders for Dell and I think losing that external pressure would help Nintendo too. They should have enough cash banked to make a go of it.
@TsukiDeity www.sharebuilder.com, type in nintendo, and that's all there is to it. You can buy a single share, with fees, for about $25.
@Dr_Lugae @IceClimbers
Here's the thing, they delay everything (well, almost everything). Instead of doing this, why not be realistic and give a date that is less likely delayed, a date that is adequate. Just because something isn't delayed, it doesn't mean that it is rushed or has to be rushed. But really, Nintendo needs to stop jumping the gun, showing off everything so early or at least just stop giving dates that never work.
Yes, it is better to delay a product that is bad to make it good. But to delay everything, never have anything ready when you say it will, how do you expect to build trust? If you go to a bank, take out a loan and say you'll pay it back in 5 years but then take 8-10, gimping payments and stretching stuff out, then go back and do the same kind of thing constantly with them. How trusting do you think they will be with you when this is always the occurrence?
@xtndedPlay,
I fall into the same category as you, sans the kids-of-my-own (yet) but I see the trends in your household writ-large as a teacher. Interestingly, they are still talking about and requesting the 3DS (NEW iteration mostly) for Christmas, or Ramadan, but when I strike up a conversation about the Wii U they respond with varying degrees of indifference. On the other hand, in my experience, they are often very familier with and have a lot to say about Mario 3D World and Mario Kart - even Splatoon and to some extent Pikmin. Here's the part that I think is a reflective, maybe significant trend: usually they have played it and loved it because one of their friend's Dad's has a Wii U, or an uncle, or, like, 2/30 of the kids in any given elementary classroom. Certainly reflective of the saturation numbers nation-wide in the US, but what I find interesting is the adults in and around either end of our age-bracket that are buying these things. But even I, a Nintendo Ambassador-for-life-it-says-so-on-a-little-icon-on-my-3DS-home-screen-thank-you-very-much, bought one right at the beginning for my married-with-children brother who was thrilled as the game-mate of my youth...but never ended up buying one for myself. I can always play there. Sounds pragmatic, but I can tell you, there was a very real tipping point at not too high a threshold that was never reached but that would have seen me plunking down money for my own duel-screen gaming machine. Sorry, my writing gets cutesy when I wax-Nintendo. Or "wane-Nintendo" as it (kind-of) were. But while I see your trends, and also long for your "updated iteration of [Nintendo] IP on advancing hardware" I also raise you at least 15 years of intervening time, the iPhone, and the Internet. Not to be, cheeky, but to try and figure out what's happened. Kids still appreciate quality, but they also somehow love pixelated spelunking, sword-weilding-lumberjack, contractors and QuickTime bears with knives. I'm bum-puzzled. Where do we go from here? Help me! It's clearly dangerous to go alone.
I wonder if now would be the time to get in on Nintendo.
@dumedum Thanks! I still find it a bit surreal that trading is based on perception only; it's buying and selling hope with crossed fingers.
@russellohh Hey thanks! sharebuilder.com redirects me to Capital One Investing, I'd assume it's the same place?
Man I feel sorry for kimishima. None of this is his fault. But yeah Nintendo really has to figure out a way to reduce delays. I appreciate the desire for quality but they're starting to look incompetent.
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