Nintendo Posts Profit Drop for First Time in Six Years
Nintendo Posts Profit Drop for First Time in Six Years
Posted 05/06/2010 at 6:56am
| by Paul Lilly
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While nobody in Nintendo's ranks is freaking out just yet, the company did post an annual profit decline for the first time in six years, the Wall Street Journal reports. What's more, Nintendo said it expects the backwards trend to continue again this fiscal year while the company focuses on new products to spur growth.
Sales of Nintendo's Wii and DS handheld consoles have finally started to slow down. For the fiscal year ended March 31, Nintendo said it sold 20.53 million Wii consoles world-wide, down 21 percent from the previous year. And for this fiscal year, Nintendo expects sales to drop yet again, this time to 18 million units.
"There's a lot of expectation that Nintendo will continue to dominate. And that's a tall order in this industry, which is characterized by changes in leadership in every generation," said Jay Defibaugh, equities research director at MF Global FXA Securities.
Going forward, Nintendo will face increased competition from Microsoft and Sony, both of which are planning to introduce motion-sensing controllers for their own respective consoles. Combined with the Wii's inability to play back high-definition content, Nintendo has reason to be concerned.
On the handheld front, Nintendo will release the 3DS next year, which won't require any goofy looking glasses. If it works as well as Nintendo anticipates, the company will be better prepared to fend off increasing competition from mobile phones, which have started to make a harder push into the casual gaming segment.
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Jono
May 07, 2010 at 12:45am
That's what happens when your target audience changes from gamers to yoga yuppies. And people don't care about the system, they care about the content, gimmicks aside. It's the reason so many people would purchase the XBOX although there was only one game it had that people were interested in at the time.
Scatmanbrandt
May 06, 2010 at 10:18pm
Once a new iteration of the Wii and the 3DS comes out, they'll pick up. Hell, I'd even buy a 3DS, passive 3D screen in a handheld size? count me in
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Trooper_One
May 06, 2010 at 11:53am
Sales usually plateau at a certain point and then starts to die down. I think this is what's happening with the Wii and DS. Unless they come out with something big and wonderful (and doesn't cost too high) addition to the products, then expect the end of these products.
Zazubovich
May 06, 2010 at 11:04am
Nintendo needs to double down on their motion technology and incorporate it into more immersive games. The sports and fitness category is okay if it gets couch potatoes up and moving a little bit, but the wire to the thighband is an epic fail unless you are a tiny Japanese person (Mothra's girlfriends). http://www.clawmarktoys.com/images/mothra.jpg
Wireless ankle sensors and a body vest plus military sims/sports games/giant robots (squee) equals epic win. Picture a Robot Jox/MechWarrior/Starseige/Macross/Gundam/Shogun Warriors game where you have to do the body movements as well as resource management and tactics. That jumps right into the big sectors that xbox and ps2/3 are milking big time.
Vegan
May 06, 2010 at 4:44pm
That sounds stupid. I want to play a game, not be Robocop. Unless it's a game about being Robocop. Then I'm in.
Danthrax66
May 06, 2010 at 9:03am
I guess people are realizing that motion control is a gimmick and that it is nearly impossible for a third party developer to make a quality game that functions correctly.
Live, Learn, and Shut the Fuck Up.
Peanut Fox
May 06, 2010 at 9:30am
It's more likely that they are reaching market saturation. When you consistently post grater than half a million units sold between the DS and Wii every month (just in North America) and your competitors are playing the me too in the motion sensor front. It's hard to say it's just a gimmick.
Danthrax66
May 06, 2010 at 2:39pm
No it's just a gimmick that the news publicized to get old people and parents to buy kids don't want motion control tons of games and if you look at the wii major games aren't coming out for it and if they do the controls are bad or unintuitive. the fact that the only people who can make a good game for it are nintendo is what is slowing down the wii. It wasn't made for hardcore gamers. In a way the wii is like twitter the first day you are interested because it's new but after a while you realize it's stupid and buy a ps3. Or you just go back to pc games because the pc is the best game console.
Live, Learn, and Shut the Fuck Up.
Peanut Fox
May 06, 2010 at 11:04pm
If it's a gimmick, both Microsoft and Sony have bought into it so expect motion control to be around for a while. The fact that third parties have a hard time making triple 'A' games that sell on the Wii isn't affecting it's sale in the long run. It's still the number one selling console of this generation. As far as major games go, Nintendo has planes for both another Mario and Zelda one of which will likely release by the end of the year. No they aren't 3rd party titles but when your game has Mario on the cover, people tend to perk up.
I'll also argue that motion control isn't a gimmick. It's new, and just need a lot of time to mature. I'm will to bet that a few years from now motion control interfaces as well motion based gaming will be a big hit.
I love PC gaming, but more and more it seems anything worth playing is just a console port, and I don't need a $400 graphics card to play those.
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