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A pair of industry members discuss Nintendo's financial status, future, going third party
"When you're used to generating a profit consistently for dozens of years, suddenly dipping into the other direction is bound to cause some soul-searching as a company. It's possible that the prevalence of mobile/social gaming has fundamentally changed things this time around, but I think we need to wait at least three months -- to see the effect of Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7 and a lower price with holiday season promotions/gift buying -- before we can say that with any kind of certainty. Until then, I'd tell Nintendo to stay the course.
Keep in mind the 3DS has yet to see its first holiday sales season or its first Mario game, two things that are about to change. If the losses continue through the next fiscal year, that's when it's a panic-inducing turnaround of historic proportions." - Kyle Orland, News Editor at Gamasutra
"To be fair, Japanese companies are getting hammered in general: just this last week, Panasonic announced its worst quarterly earnings in a decade, and Honda's top American executive said that this year was the 'worst I've seen.' However, Nintendo has navigated choppy waters successfully for a long time, so this still stands out.
Even with the pricing structure of games collapsing around them, Nintendo still made a terrible mistake not including a pack-in game [with the 3DS] as proof of concept for how 3D could work. Wii Sports was what made the Wii such a sensation, because it very clearly demonstrated why motion control was so much fun. It's incredible that Nintendo didn't absorb the lesson that something new and substantially different must be immediately demonstrated and explained with a high quality pack-in game.
Nintendo has historically been both incredibly brilliant and incredibly stupid, so it's not like they haven't gone through ups and downs before. But they always managed to make money, and I think that's because they've always been careful about managing risk. This time, though, they haven't done that well, and I think they're entering a very difficult period.
Apple and Google (with tablets and cell phones, along with the iPod Touch) have destroyed the pricing model for games that gaming companies spent decades protecting. It's a massive democratization of content, with a focus on rapid development and ultra-low pricing, and it really strikes at the heart of what Nintendo does, which is make beautiful, hand-crafted, highly polished games ... [with] almost complete control of the pricing model. It's not just Nintendo who will struggle with this -- it's everyone, basically. They can just stop making hardware. Even in a worst-case scenario I think they survive as a software developer. The Nintendo franchises are both successful and beloved to a degree that very few other franchises can match." - Bill Harris, industry analyst
Link
Keep in mind the 3DS has yet to see its first holiday sales season or its first Mario game, two things that are about to change. If the losses continue through the next fiscal year, that's when it's a panic-inducing turnaround of historic proportions." - Kyle Orland, News Editor at Gamasutra
"To be fair, Japanese companies are getting hammered in general: just this last week, Panasonic announced its worst quarterly earnings in a decade, and Honda's top American executive said that this year was the 'worst I've seen.' However, Nintendo has navigated choppy waters successfully for a long time, so this still stands out.
Even with the pricing structure of games collapsing around them, Nintendo still made a terrible mistake not including a pack-in game [with the 3DS] as proof of concept for how 3D could work. Wii Sports was what made the Wii such a sensation, because it very clearly demonstrated why motion control was so much fun. It's incredible that Nintendo didn't absorb the lesson that something new and substantially different must be immediately demonstrated and explained with a high quality pack-in game.
Nintendo has historically been both incredibly brilliant and incredibly stupid, so it's not like they haven't gone through ups and downs before. But they always managed to make money, and I think that's because they've always been careful about managing risk. This time, though, they haven't done that well, and I think they're entering a very difficult period.
Apple and Google (with tablets and cell phones, along with the iPod Touch) have destroyed the pricing model for games that gaming companies spent decades protecting. It's a massive democratization of content, with a focus on rapid development and ultra-low pricing, and it really strikes at the heart of what Nintendo does, which is make beautiful, hand-crafted, highly polished games ... [with] almost complete control of the pricing model. It's not just Nintendo who will struggle with this -- it's everyone, basically. They can just stop making hardware. Even in a worst-case scenario I think they survive as a software developer. The Nintendo franchises are both successful and beloved to a degree that very few other franchises can match." - Bill Harris, industry analyst
Link