Nintendo's quarterly results are out.

[Atariboy]

I don't really care much about this, but I know some do so here's a news piece about it.

 

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/07/nintendo_reports_losses_for_q1_of_financial_year_with_variable_hardware_results

 

What's interesting to me are their updated sales statistics that already reflect their quarterly performance. Substitute 13 in the link to compare with this same quarter a year ago.

 

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/library/historical_data/pdf/consolidated_sales_e1406.pdf

 

On the bright side despite their overall company performance still being disappointing, the Wii U sold approximately 3 times the hardware this quarter that it did a year ago and over four times the software. Nice to see signs of growth and consumers responding to things like Mario Kart 8 even if the overall numbers remain disappointing.

 

3DS, although I still think of it as brand new, is continuing to show signs of starting to slow down as it nears the midpoint of its 3rd year on the market. Compared to a year ago, hardware sales have went from 1.4 million to 820,000 and software sales from just over 11 million to 8.5 million. Not enough 1st party offerings as Nintendo turns towards preparing for the future I suspect is why we've been seeing a gradual slowdown here rather than consumers tiring of the 3DS.

 

Wii is definitely near death. Just 90,000 systems and 160,000 software units sold this quarter (To me, that disparity between the two just shows how big of an error Nintendo has made with not embracing the Nintendo Selects rerelease line). Even with the realization that Wii does most of its sales during the Christmas shopping season, this is still less than 50% of what the platform managed to sell 12 months ago during this same quarter. I doubt Wii offerings outside of forward compatible Wii remotes and nunchucks will be restocked past this upcoming Christmas season.

 

DS didn't manage to sell enough systems to even manage a 1 (10,000 units sold) and only sold 630,000 games. Both are big drops from just a year ago. Safe to say, I suspect, that this will be its last fiscal year with any significant software sales as hardware sales conclude.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Atariboy

[+wood_jl]

What's surprising is that after all these decades in the game business, it seems to have taken Nintendo by surprise that in a highly-competitive market, great games are necessary to push brand new consoles. Look what Mario Kart 8 seems to have done, alone.

[Mord]

Now let's see if they understand that great first-party games alone aren't going to solve their problems. They still need to seriously start attracting 3rd party developers. Something they seem to have a lot of trouble with in a competitive market (highly competitive or not)

[Ransom]

Hey, I'm doing my part. I bought two Wii U's and I'm expecting my 3DS to arrive today.

 

Seriously, though, I expect that Nintendo's results will be much better this holiday season. Lots of really good games coming out, and next year is looking pretty strong too.

 

But, yeah, they do need to get some quality 3rd party developers on board. I admire their strategy with games like Bayonetta 2, where they're basically paying for an exclusive. But they also need to fill out the roster with some of the top AAA games that the other platforms are getting.

 

Not that it matters to me, mind you. I have a PS4. But when I talk to friends, they say their tween-to-teen kids want nothing to do with the Wii U. They're all either in the Microsoft or Sony camps, depending on what their friends have.

 

At this point, Nintendo is sort of like the Disney brand. Little kids like it and adults-with-little-kids like it, but they have a tough time with everyone else.

 

Maybe Nintendo needs to buy the gaming equivalent of Marvel. Would that be EA? Activision?

[cimerians]

Sounds familiar, my kids play the Wii U because of me but its mainly Call of Duty and iPads if it was totally up to them.

 

As far as third party support its getting to the point of frustration, for myself it's Fatal Frame:

They probably look at Mario Kart 8 sales which may be around a million already and then look at past Fatal Frame sales and probably see something like 60,0000 and then factor in distribution costs and figure "no lets not sell it anywhere else". I don't know.

 

Although the last time I checked it seemed the Fatal Frame 2 remake did pretty well (based off what budget I don't know) so that again raises the question: Who at Nintendo of America (or Nintendo of Japan) calls these shots and what do they base if off of? Do they really know what North American gamers want? Do they overbudget like EA does and expect 5-10 million sales? Or they simply believe that we here can always live on Mario and Zelda games and that's it?

 

Not sure if I can continue buying their consoles if that's the case but it seems they are going to be going the Apple route so we may see a hybrid console\portable coming next.

[Austin]

Wii is definitely near death. Just 90,000 systems and 160,000 software units sold this quarter (To me, that disparity between the two just shows how big of an error Nintendo has made with not embracing the Nintendo Selects rerelease line). Even with the realization that Wii does most of its sales during the Christmas shopping season, this is still less than 50% of what the platform managed to sell 12 months ago during this same quarter. I doubt Wii offerings outside of forward compatible Wii remotes and nunchucks will be restocked past this upcoming Christmas season.

 

I mostly play original Wii games via my Wii U now. I would have been happy to buy more Select titles, except that Nintendo hasn't really released any recently, and the offerings still left at my local big-box stores are slim-to-nothing. I wonder how many others are in the same boat, and I wonder how many more Wii software units they could have sold had they done another run and introduced some new titles (like Super Mario Galaxy 2)?

[Zap!]

Looking past the doomsday reports, I see light:

 

Wii U Comeback Imminent After Impressive E3 2014 Game Lineup

[Mendon]

With the slow release of 1st party games and almost nothing on the 3rd party front this year, I have no idea why Nintendo isn't flooding the VC Channel with games to tide Wii U owners over between 1st party releases. Nintendo promised games from the vast N64 library and putting out some of these games on a regular monthly schedule would give Wii U owners something to play now and maybe put some money in Nintendo's pocket from sales.

 

I'd love me some Ogre Battle 64, StarCraft 64, Duke Nukem 64 and Zero Hour, Command & Conquer, Donkey Kong 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Doom 64, Gex 64, or many, many other titles I haven't played in a long time.

 

I have been a holdout on buying from the eShop because of purchases being tied to a console instead of an account. But open up that N64 library, Nintendo, and I'll open my wallet.

[Atariboy]

I mostly play original Wii games via my Wii U now. I would have been happy to buy more Select titles, except that Nintendo hasn't really released any recently, and the offerings still left at my local big-box stores are slim-to-nothing. I wonder how many others are in the same boat, and I wonder how many more Wii software units they could have sold had they done another run and introduced some new titles (like Super Mario Galaxy 2)?

That's what I mean. Look at those DS statistics. No systems sold yet hundreds of thousands of DS games have been sold just in this quarter alone.

 

The only real advantage the DS has going for it over the Wii at this point is that there's more shovelware coming out (The rerelease situation is equally as poor there, maybe more so). Just that fact alone seems to seems to be largely responsible for the tremendous difference since they're contemporaries of each other, both sold in record amounts, and both have backwards compatible successors.

 

Imagine what a thriving Nintendo Selects program of quality rereleases could've done for the Wii. I wouldn't be surprised if it managed to double or triple the hardware sales it had and far more for the software side. And I must be far from alone in having missed out on a few of the Wii's top offerings (I just recently added Super Mario Galaxy 2, for instance).

 

Would help tide the Wii U side over a bit during these dry spells if you could just go to your local store and buy a brand new $20 classic from the Wii that you missed out on when it was new.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Atariboy

[Mord]

Looking past the doomsday reports, I see light:

 

Wii U Comeback Imminent After Impressive E3 2014 Game Lineup

 

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I'm planning on picking up some of the games this fall when they release, although I'll still probably put off getting the Wii U itself until near or after christmas and base the decision on if I get a bonus at work again this year. That's how I've been buying the Wii, 360, and 2 PS3s in the past.

 

I'll probably also look at some of the games that have already passed by and see if I can get any look half way interesting. I didn't give them much thought since those weren't going to move a console for me unlike the new Zelda, etc in the pipe. If Nintendo had these kinds of games set up for launch, they'd have probably broke records for themselves.

[Mendon]

With the recent announcement that the upcoming Resident Evil HD remake is hitting all consoles except the Wii U, and that there still is no release date for Watch Dogs, I have to wonder if the Wii U can continue to survive on only Nintendo titles. But I also wonder if the lack of 3rd party titles is hurting the Wii U any more than Nintendo is hurting itself :

 

Nintendo just announced that Hyrule Warriors will NOT have online play, only local co-op. Online play is a regular feature of Dynasty Warriors so I'm at a loss as to why Nintendo is doing this.

 

The upcoming Mario Party for Wii U doesn't have online play, only local. Online would seem to be a natural, IMO.

 

And there are other, smaller issues such as a lot of MK8 players (including myself) were disappointed that MK8 didn't use the gamepad for gameplay instead of split-screen or that the VC Channel is lacking in support or that eShop purchases are still tied to a console instead of an account.

 

 

I like my Wii U; it has some great games and a lot of nice features. It's just sad that, to me, Nintendo isn't making use of those features.

[Austin]

With the recent announcement that the upcoming Resident Evil HD remake is hitting all consoles except the Wii U, and that there still is no release date for Watch Dogs, I have to wonder if the Wii U can continue to survive on only Nintendo titles. But I also wonder if the lack of 3rd party titles is hurting the Wii U any more than Nintendo is hurting itself

 

It will continue to survive, just not on the same level as its competitors. Asides from the Wii, this is how Nintendo has been floating along since the Nintendo 64 days.

[Bill Loguidice]

Looking past the doomsday reports, I see light:

 

Wii U Comeback Imminent After Impressive E3 2014 Game Lineup

 

With all due respect, that's an awful article from an uninformed writer. First, vgchartz.com posts notoriously poor data, so it should never be cited as a source of numbers, and second, the author is making several assumptions of the x is definitely more popular than y variety, which has no foundation other than opinion (and I'd argue an incorrect one in some of the cases). Not suprising, but in praising the Wii U's upcoming library, the author also fails to mention how widely spaced Nintendo releases are, taking a lot of steam out of the article's thesis. Anyway, I just had to vent... I haven't seen a piece so poorly written in a long time.

[+Gemintronic]

I don't think you have enough experience with journalism to make that call, Bill. Multi-coloured bars with text never lie!

[Mendon]

 

It will continue to survive, just not on the same level as its competitors, which the Wii aside is how Nintendo has been floating along since the Nintendo 64 days.

 

I hope you are not only right, Austin, but that things get better. But I still have to wonder that after posted loss after posted loss, will the share holders continue to keep footing the bill.

[+Gemintronic]

 

I hope you are not only right, Austin, but that things get better. But I still have to wonder that after posted loss after posted loss, will the share holders continue to keep footing the bill.

 

It would be interesting to see a Japanese company break down like an American one. I don't think it will happen. As a culture they're more unified in purpose. Just look at the wonderful keiretsu system!

[Bill Loguidice]

 

I hope you are not only right, Austin, but that things get better. But I still have to wonder that after posted loss after posted loss, will the share holders continue to keep footing the bill.

 

As a Japanese company, Nintendo executives will likely continue to have considerable leeway and full confidence votes. A business like that located in most other countries would have long had its investors call for the heads at the top of Nintendo to roll, but instead, they got unanimously re-approved. Only time will tell if that was the right decision, but it does mean that under the present leadership Nintendo will pretty much be business as usual, which means ignoring most industry trends and stubbornly sticking even to those gameplans that are clearly failing.

I think the Wii U will settle into a distant third place once the smoke clears on this generation, simply because they lack notable third party support and don't have a sufficient first party pipeline to keep momentum up. I also think it will be the first next gen system to replaced (even putting aside the fact it was released a year before the other two). Logically - and who knows what Nintendo's actual plans are - I think they HAVE to come out with a combined successor to both the Wii U and 3DS, replacing both in one fell swoop. I'm not sure they can continue to fight off both consoles and phone/tablets, but they really can't abandon either market either. They're in a tough situation as the competition continues to evolve around them along with consumer buying habits and needs.

[cimerians]

I'm trying to stay positive but yeah its pretty bad. Throw in lack of interest and then I have even less releases I'm looking forward to. I skipped Tropical Freeze (maybe someday) and have no interest in a Dynasty Warriors game with Zelda skins. Also, I will definitely not buy Mario Party 10 if all the players are caged in a vehicle.

 

Leaves slim pickings for me till next year (I might bite on smash bros)...and why I was so upset that Fatal Frame won't be coming here.

[Bill Loguidice]

I'm definitely in for Smash Bros., which is my next get after already playing out Mario Kart 8. I honestly don't know what else will pique my interest at this point. In any case, Smash Bros. will definitely give the Wii U another big push, which we might not see again until a true Zelda hits. I don't think much else has the necessary star power.

[Mendon]

I'm not sure what this means or if it is true but take a look:

 

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/reports-of-unrest-at-nintendo-claims-management-plotting-iwata-toppling/0136352

[cimerians]

I'm not sure what this means or if it is true but take a look:

 

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/reports-of-unrest-at-nintendo-claims-management-plotting-iwata-toppling/0136352

 

They would make a killing releasing Nintendo games on other platforms. I know hardcore fans never want to see this sort of sacrilege but times are changing.

 

Anyone else want to flap mario over pipes on their phone? Ughh....people would buy it though.

[Csonicgo]

 

Nintendo just announced that Hyrule Warriors will NOT have online play, only local co-op. Online play is a regular feature of Dynasty Warriors so I'm at a loss as to why Nintendo is doing this.

 

The upcoming Mario Party for Wii U doesn't have online play, only local. Online would seem to be a natural, IMO.

 

Hyrule Warriors WILL have online play, it won't have two-player online play. So only one player at a time on a console during online multiplayer.

 

[TPA5]

If Nintendo would bring some of their games to smartphones I would only be behind it if they did a damn good job of it. Develop them in-house, spend time re-creating the experience to flow on a touchscreen, and for heavens sake do not implement in-app purchases.

 

On the other hand, I've been hearing doom-and-gloom about Nintendo for almost as long as I can remember.

 

"What, they're making a hand-held with two screens? Haha, what morons!"

 

"What, they're making a motion-controller console named the Wii with a phallic-controller? Haha, it'll never sell!"

 

Everyone points fingers at Nintendo and laughs, and I don't know if I 100% understand it. Is it because they don't have enough games where you can gun down generic terrorists in sandy countries? Or is it because the frothing Call of Duty masses dismiss it as "not a true gamers" console? At the very least Nintendo is actually trying to (gasp) innovate in an industry so stale a metric-tonne of salt wouldn't be able to add the faintest dash of flavor.

 

Granted, Nintendo tends to play it too safe in the market when it comes to IP's, and everyone tends to trumpet out that they continually release Zelda and Mario over and over. But for goodness sake, they add new elements or twists to them when they do release them. A Zelda game that's cel-shaded and you sail around an ocean on. A Zelda game where to turn paper-thin and interact in a fresh way with the world around you. A Zelda game where you can turn into a wolf. A Mario game where it's a 2D platformer, but you can shift the perspective to 3D. A Mario game that's an RPG with turn-based battles. A Mario game where you run around spherical planets and screw around with the laws of gravity.

 

It's a damn sight better than Call of Duty: Shoot More Foreign People.

 

Bah, I rant.

 

I hope Nintendo can pull themselves out of their slump and get some heavy-hitting WiiU titles. God knows if I had the spare cash I would already have my hands on a WiiU.

[Bill Loguidice]

At the very least Nintendo is actually trying to (gasp) innovate in an industry so stale a metric-tonne of salt wouldn't be able to add the faintest dash of flavor.

 

Nintendo innovating these days is as much a myth as the other guys not innovating. One of the Wii U's list of issues is that Nintendo has lightly rehashed the same games we've been getting since the GameCube days, and, arguably, since the Nintendo 64 days. Certainly there has been innovation here and there, but Nintendo's own longevity is working against them. There is clearly end user fatigue with some of Nintendo's big franchises, and Nintendo is as much to blame as anyone for it. In any case, this has all come to a head on Wii U, where it's majoritively rehashes and remakes.

Certainly the other guys getting the annual Call of Duty and sports games releases is not exactly refreshing either, but the difference is those are only one small part of the total software spectrum on those platforms so it's less of an issue. On the Wii U, all we really have left is Nintendo, and they're more or less banking on the usual staples to save them, like Mario Kart 8 (which did a bang up job, but now that momentum is gone due to the next big gap between major releases) and Super Smash Bros. The amiibo toys should also help their bottom line, but that's not exactly them leading the way and innovating, is it?

[TPA5]

 

 

Nintendo innovating these days is as much a myth as the other guys not innovating. One of the Wii U's list of issues is that Nintendo has lightly rehashed the same games we've been getting since the GameCube days, and, arguably, since the Nintendo 64 days. Certainly there has been innovation here and there, but Nintendo's own longevity is working against them. There is clearly end user fatigue with some of Nintendo's big franchises, and Nintendo is as much to blame as anyone for it. In any case, this has all come to a head on Wii U, where it's majoritively rehashes and remakes.

Certainly the other guys getting the annual Call of Duty and sports games releases is not exactly refreshing either, but the difference is those are only one small part of the total software spectrum on those platforms so it's less of an issue. On the Wii U, all we really have left is Nintendo, and they're more or less banking on the usual staples to save them, like Mario Kart 8 (which did a bang up job, but now that momentum is gone due to the next big gap between major releases) and Super Smash Bros. The amiibo toys should also help their bottom line, but that's not exactly them leading the way and innovating, is it?

 

 

 

I would have to gently disagree with you on that point. If nothing else, Nintendo has hardly released any major games for the WiiU as of yet, so it's unfair to claim user-fatigue on Nintendo IP's is what's damaging the WiiU. Poor release support is damaging the WiiU if anything. Plus, Nintendo pushes their IP's in different directions with each release. Some, like Super Smash Bros, are naturally not-conducive to stretching the formula very much due to its genre. However Nintendo has proven with many of their IP releases that they're able to take a classic IP and turn it into a fresh experience. Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, Link Between Worlds, etc all are Zelda games, and they all feel like a Zelda game, but they present unique gameplay in each iteration.

 

However I do agree when you say the WiiU is Nintendo. Third party support for the WiiU is in the pits, and I doubt it will pick up. For the WiiU to pick up in sales it needs more third-party support, but for more third-party support it needs sales to pick up before developer interest is acquired. A tragic cycle.

 

The fact is while I don't buy into the doom-reports gaming publications love to file against Nintendo, I do know Nintendo should be careful. Sega proved that no matter how large your company is, you are never too large to fail.