Tag: Business - Page 10
News Nintendo's 'Quality of Life' Project Lives On
"Our aim is to enable consumers to make daily efforts to improve their QOL"
Way back in 2015 it was suggested that Nintendo's Quality of Life initiative had been put on the back burner following the untimely passing of company president Satoru Iwata. Given that not much has been said about QOL, you'd be forgiven for assuming that Nintendo had...
News Sports Direct Buys 25.75 Percent Stake In Embattled UK Retail Chain GAME
"GAME is pleased that the strategic value of the group has been recognised"
Controversial UK retail chain Sports Direct has purchased a 25.75 percent stake in GAME, the UK's biggest high street video game specialist. Despite its dominant position in the UK video game market, GAME has endured a difficult year. It recently posted a profit warning,...
News Nintendo's Market Capitalisation Overtakes Sony's Following Switch Success
Highest market cap for Nintendo since 2008
The ongoing success of the Switch has seen Nintendo's market capitalisation hit 5.44 trillion yen ($48.9 billion), which sees the Kyoto giant overtake rival Sony for the first time in almost a year. This new market cap figure is the highest posted by Nintendo since October 2008. ...
News New Nikkei Report Accuses Konami Of Blacklisting Past Employees
"If you leave the company, you cannot rely on Konami's name to land a job"
Konami has made plenty of headlines over the past few years, but not always for the right reasons. Following the publisher's acrimonious split from Hideo Kojima - who was responsible for some of the company's biggest games - reports hit the Japanese media of Konami's shameful...
Rumour Nintendo Is Ramping Up Switch Production For This Fiscal Year
Now targeting 18 million consoles before March 2018
The Switch is selling faster than some very hot cakes right now and according to "inside sources" cited by The Financial Times, Nintendo is upping production in an attempt to meet demand. These sources claim that Nintendo is looking to increase production to ensure that those who wish to buy a...
News Sega Is Looking To Revive Some Of Its Past Classics
But which ones will be resurrected?
Sega may be one of the gaming world's biggest third-party publishers but it was once a mover and shaker in the world of hardware and the first company to seriously challenge Nintendo for dominance of the living room. During the '80s and '90s the company produced a string of hits, including Streets of Rage, Sega...
News Nvidia CEO Hails Nintendo Switch As "A Home Run", Is Open To Working On Other Consoles
"It was the perfect collaboration for us"
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has been speaking during a recent investor's Q&A about the Nintendo Switch and its impact on his company's business - which, as we reported this morning, is pretty positive. During the session, Huang was asked if the early success of the Switch will open up the console...
News Nintendo Switch Demand Adds As Much As $192 Million To Nvidia's Bottom Line
Tegra business is on the up-and-up
The success of the Nintendo Switch has had a positive impact on the financial fortunes of Nvidia, which supplies the chipset for the hybrid console. Nvidia's Q1 report for the 2018 fiscal year reports that revenues for its Tegra lines of processors rose to $332m, which is more than double what was seen...
News Nintendo Switch Led Japanese Hardware Sales in April
It prints money!
Nintendo is performing relatively well in Japan at the moment, with healthy sales for the Nintendo Switch in April. Famitsu has revealed the monthly sales data for April (27th March - 30th April) and it turns out that 234,817 Nintendo Switch units have been shifted, according to the magazine's figures. The 3DS is in rude...
News Genyo Takeda Will Continue To Offer Guidance As Special Corporate Adviser To Nintendo
Veteran's "knowledge, experience and personal connections" highly valued
Last week we reported that Genyo Takeda - one of Nintendo's longest-serving and most influential employees - was retiring from his role within the company. We now have the official English translation of the Nintendo Q&A which spawned this news, and can reveal that while...
News Nintendo Using Costly Air Freight To Meet Demand For Switch Faster
Switch on a plane
Since its launch on 3rd March, the Nintendo Switch has been selling like hotcakes with 2.74 million units shifted so far. Naturally Nintendo is keen to keep up this momentum and has made the unprecedented decision to use expensive air freight in order to get the next batch of Switch consoles into customers hands, presumably to make...
News Capcom Wants You To Know That It's Taking The Nintendo Switch Very Seriously
Also has a "major" unannounced title on the way this financial year
Capcom's latest financial presentation contains some pieces of information that should be of considerable interest to Nintendo fans. First up, the company is aiming to push multiplatform development in as big way over the next financial year, and that includes supporting the...
News Nintendo Veteran Genyo Takeda Is Retiring As A Company Director
Ko Shiota gets a promotion
Nintendo has released a notice regarding the impending retirement of 68-year-old Genyo Takeda, Representative Director and "Technology Fellow" of Nintendo. Takeda is one of Nintendo's longest-serving staffers, having joined the company in 1971. He and his team at R&D3 came up with many technical innovations during the...
Rumour Vivendi To "Accelerate Expansion" In Video Games, Ubisoft The Main Target
French giant looking to turn around recent poor results
French media company Vivendi is looking to make some key acquisitions this year to combat investor concerns regarding its recent mixed results, poor share performance and general lack of long-term strategy, according to sources which have spoken to news site Reuters. These sources claim that...
News Kojima-Free Konami Is Doing Just Fine, Thanks Very Much
Profits up a whopping 70 percent
When Hideo Kojima parted company with Konami under a cloud and reports began to appear that the firm didn't have the best track record for staff morale, it seemed as if the veteran publisher was finally planning its escape from the world of AAA video games. However, fast forward to the present and the "new look"...
News Veteran Publisher Majesco Exits The Video Game Business
Merges with a medical tech company, of all things
Video game veteran Majesco has merged with PolarityTE, a company which operates in the medical industry, signalling its exit from the video game arena. Founded in 1986, Majesco has published titles like Cooking Mama, Data East Arcade Classics, Bomberman Generation, BattleBots and BlastWorks on...
News Nintendo Isn't The Only Company Impacted By The Failure Of The Wii U
Semiconductor firm Renesas deals with an unwelcome legacy
Nintendo's recent financial briefing has put the dismal performance of the Wii U into sharp focus. Since its launch in 2012 the console has struggled to attract an audience and has sold just over 13 million units worldwide - a far cry from the performance of its forerunner the Wii, which...
News Nintendo Stock Leaps Following NX Trailer Announcement
$1 billion added to company value
Nintendo's share price has risen following the news that it will reveal its new NX console later today. Shares jumped as much as 4.6 percent at midday in Tokyo, which added more than $1 billion in market value. The company's stock is up more than 50 percent this year, something which is also partly thanks to its...
News Industry Veteran Interplay Puts Its Entire Library Of Properties Up For Sale
He's dead, Jim
Interplay is selling off its entire catalogue of IP, it has been revealed. The veteran firm - which can count Earthworm Jim, Clayfighter and MDK amongst its titles - is offloading "video game assets and intellectual property" which covers some 70 titles. Established in 1983 by Brian Fargo - who now runs inXile Entertainment -...
News Nintendo And DeNA Experience Share Price Jumps In Light Of Super Mario Run Announcement
18 and 21 percent respectively
Yesterday, Nintendo caused quite a stir by confirming Super Mario Run for iOS devices at Apple's yearly conference. Unsurprisingly, the news triggered Nintendo's share price to leap sharply, rising as high as 18 percent before settling down to a still-remarkable 11 percent at the end of the trading day. DeNA - the...
News Nintendo Acquires Japanese Company JESNET To Gain Control Of Product Distribution
Will result in "rapid decision-making and an improvement in sales service"
Nintendo has announced today that it is acquiring distribution company JESNET in a deal worth $47 million. JESNET will become a Nintendo subsidiary next April, and the firm will work closely with video game wholesale firm AJIOKA to assist in bringing Nintendo's products to...
News Major League Baseball Owners Look Set To Approve Seattle Mariners Sale
A home run for Nintendo's bottom line
We reported back in April that Nintendo hoped to sell it's majority stake in the Seattle Mariners. It appears that the sale could close this week which would be great news for Nintendo's bank balance in advance of launching Nintendo NX in March 2017. It's been reported that Major League Baseball owners were set...
News Bowser Rises Up The Ranks At Nintendo Of America
No, not that one
Remember the hilarity when Nintendo of America hired someone called Doug Bowser to be their Vice President of Sales last year? Ah, good times. Joking aside, Doug has a pretty solid track record. As well as working at EA, he was previously employed by Procter & Gamble and has a bachelor's degree in communications from the...
News Lead and Assistant Designers Quit Nintendo Software Technology
The unwanted stepchild of Nintendo development teams
Some of you may be familiar with Nintendo Software Technology, the American studio that Nintendo opened to create games that appealed more to Western markets. Though it was started with the best of intentions, things began to fall apart with the ill-fated Project H.A.M.M.E.R., which seemed to...
News Nintendo Reconfirms March 2017 NX Launch And Quality Of Life Concept Development
NX is a "brand new" concept, as we've been told before
Nintendo has just published its 2016 Annual Report, and tucked away alongside all of the numbers and figures you'll find some interesting titbits about the company's future products. First up is NX, which was once again confirmed as coming in March next year: Nintendo is also devoted to the...
News Scott Moffitt is Leaving Nintendo
Evidently, the departure was amicable
Though it's easy enough to think of Nintendo headquarters as being something akin to the interior of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, the reality is that it is a corporation that's run by a hierarchy just like any other. Scott Moffitt – Executive VP of Sales and Marketing – is a face and name that many...
News Activision Was Closer To Owning Rare Than You Might Think
Xbox co-creator Ed Fries says it was a close-run thing
UK company Rare is responsible for some of the best games of the past 30 years, and was once a Nintendo second-party studio thanks to the Japanese giant purchasing 49 percent of the firm. Nintendo and Rare's alliance resulted in titles like Donkey Kong Country, Diddy Kong Racing, GoldenEye 007,...
News Publisher Future Confirms £14.2 Million Takeover Bid For UK Rival Imagine
The country's two gaming giants are merging
Future Publishing - the UK media veteran whose portfolio includes (or has included in the past) EDGE, Official Nintendo Magazine, Official PlayStation Magazine, Total!, Super Play and many more games mags - has announced that it has agreed terms on a £14.2 million takeover bid for UK-based rival Imagine...
News Nintendo Signs Greek Distribution Deal With CD Media SE
Greece is the word
Nintendo of Europe has inked a deal with CD Media SE which will see the latter distributing the former's hardware and software in Greece and the Balkan region from October 1st this year. Nintendo has lacked a distribution partner in the territory since the end of last year, when its deal with Nortec Multimedia SA came to an end...
News Vivendi Continues To Gobble Up Ubisoft, Bit By Bit
Media conglomerate now owns 20.1 percent of French publisher
Media giant Vivendi has increased its stake in French publisher Ubisoft days after wrestling away control of sister firm Gameloft from the Guillemot family. Vivendi has been planning a hostile takeover for Gameloft - the mobile publisher founded by the Guillemots, who are also in charge...
News Nintendo Will Reveal NX Price, Launch Lineup And Specs This Year, Claims Nikkei
Stating the obvious?
Today we found out that Nintendo won't be launching its NX console this year and also won't be showing it off at E3 2016. The news has come as quite a blow for many Nintendo fans who had hoped that the new hardware would be out in time for Christmas, while others hav
News AMD Earnings Call Says "New Consoles" Are Launching Later This Year
"New semi-custom business" coming "in the second half of 2016"
Chipmaker AMD supplies the processors which power the Wii U, PS4 and Xbox One, and is therefore a pretty significant player in the gaming arena right now. At the company's recent earnings call, it gave another possible indication that Nintendo's new NX system will be arriving later this...
News Looks Like Nintendo's Familiar Red And White Branding Is Back For Good
Like the good old days
Those who grew up in the NES, SNES and Game Boy eras will know that the iconic Nintendo logo was usually a mixture of red and white. During the DS and Wii period the company didn't exactly abandon this logo, but tended to favour to a plainer grey-on-white colour scheme - possibly to reflect a newfound maturity or sense of...
News Nintendo UK Staffs Up Following High Ranking Departures
Matthias Hempfling and Kalpesh Tailor take on senior roles
Nintendo UK has had a pretty busy period in terms of staff changes. Leading figures such as marketing boss Shelly Pearce, head of PR Jo Bartlett, brand manager Roger Langford, product manager Vanisha Kavia, community manager Jonathan Town and Junior PR manager Emily Wooliscroft have all left...
News Nintendo Of Korea Lays Off 80 Percent Of Its Staff Following Sustained Losses
Reduced workforce relocating to new office outside of Seoul
Nintendo of Korea has reduced its workforce from 50 employees to just 10, it has been revealed. Referred to as "large-scale restructuring", the move will also see the Korean arm relocate to a new office outside of Seoul. Fukuda Hiroyuki will remain in place as CEO. Nintendo of Korea has...
News Nintendo Will Do Well On Mobile Because That's Where Its Core Audience Is Now, Claims Analyst
"Everybody wants Mario Kart on their mobile"
2016 is a big year for Nintendo. It's celebrating 20 years of Pokémon on one hand, but is also taking a momentous step into the future with Miitomo, the first of a new wave of exclusive smartphone titles created by the firm. In addition to this, Nintendo is taking Pokémon in an exciting new direction...
News Ubisoft Battling To Resist Hostile Takeover From Media Giant Vivendi
Boss Yves Guillemot blasts "unsolicited and unwelcome" attempt
Assassin's Creed studio Ubisoft is in danger of being taken over by mass media conglomerate Vivendi, claims boss Yves Guillemot. Vivendi - which has history in the games industry with companies like Activision Blizzard and Sierra - has been aggressively seeking a controlling stake in...
"That was a huge risk for Marvel, but they did it and look at them now"
Two leading Hollywood producers are of the opinion that Nintendo should get into movies on its own terms, emulating the trailblazing approach taken by comic giant Marvel. Dissatisfied with outside attempts to adapt its properties for the big screen, Marvel put the rights to ten...
"Nintendo will not be acquired, I think that much is certain"
Nintendo has had something of a rollercoaster year as far as its share price is concerned. Speculation surrounding the NX as well as the expectation (and subsequent delay) of the company's first smartphone app Miitomo have resulted in value of its shares dropping and
News Activision's 2015 Figures Show Slight Growth, But Skylanders And Guitar Hero Underperform
Skylanders faced "greater competition" in the Toys to Life genre
Things are on the up for what is arguably the world's biggest publisher of video games. Activision has reported its full-year earnings for 2015, and results show a slight increase in sales, operating income and net income. Revenues hit $4.6 billion, which is up from the $4.4 billion...
News Quality Of Life Device Not Fit To Be Sold As "A Nintendo Product" At The Moment, Says Kimishima
"If it could be released, we’d release it"
Nintendo's Quality of Life initiative was one of Satoru Iwata's personal legacies, an attempt to enrich the lives of consumers and improve their overall well being while simultaneously providing Nintendo with another valuable revenue stream. It was expected to launch last year but we've heard precious...
News Tatsumi Kimishima Is Aiming To Quadruple Nintendo's Operating Profits
Smartphone games, theme parks and DLC expected to contribute to growth
Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima has spoken recently about his plans for the company, and one of his boldest aims is to increase Nintendo's operating profit to around 100 billion Yen a year (approx $855 million) - more than four times what the firm achieved last financial...
News Catalis Group Acquires Curve Digital To Create "Major New British Games Publisher"
Former Eidos man Dominic Wheatley is bullish about the move
British publisher and developer Curve Digital - the company behind titles like Hydroventure: Spin Cycle and Stealth Inc. 2 - has been acquired by The Catalis Group, a move which effectively creates a massive new force in British games publishing. The Catalis Group - which includes Kuju...
News Japanese Games Market Falls To Lowest Point In 26 Years, But Full Picture Remains Elusive
Down 13 percent year-on-year, but digital data isn't included
According to data supplied by Famitsu, the Japanese games market has hit its lowest point since 1989. In 2015, games in Japan generated ¥321bn - a 13 percent decline on 2014's total of ¥368.55bn. Sales of games dropped 16 percent to ¥191bn, while games hardware was down to to ¥130bn...
News Japanese Analyst Claims NX Could Launch As Early As October, Will Eat Into Wii U And 3DS Sales
"Concept" announcement between March and May, official unveiling in June
Comments from Nomura Securities analyst Junko Yamamura have lent additional weight to existing claims that Nintendo is looking to launch its new NX console this year. Yamamura says that the console's "concept" -
News Code Of Princess And Yumi's Odd Odyssey Studio Agatsuma Is No More
Dissolved as of today, liquidation happening next year
Japanese firm Agatsuma Entertainment has revealed that it is closing its doors. The publisher of Code of Princess and Yumi's Odd Odyssey, Agatsuma has been officially dissolved as of today. Liquidation will occur on March 31st, 2016. The firm was perhaps best known for assisting with...
News Nintendo's Move To Smartphones Helped It Top Japan's Gaming Stock Market
DeNA deal and Splatoon success kept things ticking over in 2015
Nintendo may have endured a difficult 2015 with delayed titles and underperforming hardware, but on the Japanese stock market the company has been dominant, outpacing Sony and other traditional game publishers. This robust performance is largely down to Nintendo's deal with DeNA, which...
News Sega Slashes Full-Year Net Profit Projection By 90 Percent
19 billion Yen down to 2 billion Yen
Japanese gaming veteran Sega has lowered its revenue and profit forecasts for the end of this fiscal year, citing increased competition and development delays for the revised projections. Sega's revenue forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2016 has dropped by 65 billion Yen to 355 billion Yen. The impact on...
News NX Won't Be The Next Version Of Wii Or Wii U, Says Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima
"It's something unique and different"
NX is expected to launch next year, but we still know very little about the new console - although rumours are circulating that it will combine Nintendo's domestic and portable hardware interests. In an interview with Time, Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima stopped short of giving away any solid details...
Rumour Universal Making Massive Land-Grab In Florida To Add Third Theme Park
Could this be the Nintendo theme park?
As well as branching out into the smartphone gaming business in 2016, Nintendo is also looking to leverage its properties by hooking up with Universal Studios, with the aim of creating a theme park featuring the likes of Mario and company. That particular deal was inked earlier this year, and Universal is now...
