do what sega did nintendo . give up on hardware and just make games for other systems now.

I must say I'm impressed that the President of Nintendo is taking a 50% pay decrease (granted it's going to be 1 million a year down from 2 million.) I think more CEO's of big corporations should take this kind of responsibility.

Oh how my heart aches for the filthy rich who become slightly less filthy rich...might have to sell the private jet. Damn life is cruel.

Pqp. Every blog and site post the same news.

Where is Stealth to tell us how the 3DS is doing great?

I'm honestly tired of people saying that Nintendo are going to go the Sega route. Know why Sega screwed up and is stuck with Software production? The Saturn. They released it the Day it was announced. It pissed off 3rd Party devs so much that they said "fuck you guys, we're not making games for you" now, has Nintendo done anything SIMILAR? Hell no. The 3DS is a flop, but not as bad as a Saturnday moment.

lol bum...

What Epic-KxDtoid said.

Nintendo hasnt epically shit on people a la how Sega did it with the Saturn.

I am in no position to say the 3ds is doing great but heres the facts

1) The 3ds is outpacing the ds worldwide during a non holiday
2) The 3ds has been number 1/2 regularly in japan
3) The 3ds is outpacing ds numbers in US/europe


Make your own decision

@killias2 - No kidding, he/she is usually here within the first 5 comments, "educating" us about how Dtoid got everything 100% wrong, and Nintendo is on top of the world.

@killas2
Funny how STEALTH reveals himself so often eh? Bad Tactics.

4) The 3ds is garbage with no Gamez

I totally agree that Nintendo isn't at SEGA levels. Nowhere near. This is more them simply getting reminded that they do not have the Midas touch and that everything they do will be awesome and loved.

It's frankly something all companies need now and again. They spend a while at the top, get complacent, fall a peg or two, then deal with it.

@pooch, When destructoid doesnt link, and makes things up for effect yeah I feel its a responsable duty to say something

"Stealth: I am in no position to say the 3ds is doing great but heres the facts "

Three more facts:

1. Nintendo has cut profit projections by 85%(!!!)

2. Nintendo has taken the nigh unprecedented step of cutting the price by a third like 6 months in.

3. The top execs feel that they must take a pay cut due to poor performance.

No matter what you say, Nintendo clearly believes shit is not going well, and it seems the profit projections add a lot to that.

@Stealth - Good lord, will you stop making the invalid comparison of 3DS sales vs. Phat DS sales? The original DS was a totally new handheld, a paradigm shift from the "gameboy" that had been iterated a few times before it. The 3DS, just like the DS Lite and DSi, is just another update/iteration of the original DS, not a whole new system. Adding shitty 3D and a shitty eShop doesn't = paradigm shift of hardware.

I just picture Stealth weeping in his bedroom, rocking back-and-forth in the corner, mumbling "Nintendo is still #1, they'll always be #1 *sniff*"

Heaven forbid this poor, poor lost soul of a man should loose 300 million out his 3 billion pocket.

He should kill himself now to end his suffering.

@Nobunaga Oda
I chuckled.

@killias

1) nothing to do with the 3ds. Those projections are up for the 3ds in software. And hardware stayed the same

2) System prices are always cut usually within the first year. Nintendo just did it earlier

3) False. They took a pay cut because of the money they are loosing on the price drop

Again you have no numbers to refute anything I said

@ Hugh G

Taken one step further, so should our elected government officials. Their flops make the 3DS look like the holy grail

And, yeah, we're nowhere near Sega level yet. I mean, criminy, we're coming off of a generation where Nintendo had TWO consoles that printed money. It's also one of the top software developers in the world. There are like 10 Nintendo games of the past five years past 10 million sales.

This ain't looking good, but Nintendo will be fine.

I heard rumours that the new price point is making Nintendo sell the 3DS at a loss (and before pointing me that the 3DS componest costs a $100, this is the components price, it is not confirmed and you still have to paid for someone to put it together, distribute and the retailer profit) which shows a bad scenario already.

There is several announcements of delays and even developers putting projects on hold to see if the 3DS can do better. Do not know if the new price point will be as effective as hoped, but seems that the 3DS experience is not capturing peoples mind, and Nintendo decided to price cut to increase the install base and avoid 3rd party support to dry out.

But it is still too early to predict the end of Nintendo.

@DasPooch

False once again. The comparision is extremely valid because the DS was the successor to the gba no matter what you say. There was no shift

"The 3DS, just like the DS Lite and DSi, is just another update/iteration of the original DS, not a whole new system."

hahahahahahahahaha ARE YOU FOR REAL DUDE? New abilities, new controls, new features. Its completely new.

"Adding shitty 3D and a shitty eShop doesn't = paradigm shift of hardware."

I didnt realize I was talkign to a troll sorry

"I just picture Stealth weeping in his bedroom, rocking back-and-forth in the corner, mumbling "Nintendo is still #1, they'll always be #1 *sniff*""

So you cant dispute anything I said either. Bravo

Stealth: if they're losing so much money on the price drop, why do it? If it's so common, give me a list of successful video game consoles which cut their price by a third inside a year. From what I can gather, the Saturn fits, but that's hardly a great sign.

Good, maybe these companies and big-wigs will learn only if it hits them where it hurts. Their wallets. I wish there was some way to do something similar to Capcom so their wallets also suffer and they realize their atrocious business tactics when it comes to their games and DLC.

All I can say is read the forecast. I bet not one single one of you actually read the whole thing.

The ds and wii are in the toilet. But the 3ds actually exceeded there sales expectations they said which is why the forecasted hardware numbers stayed steady, and the software forecast went up

@fetusmilk - Right because who would we have left to do any innovation in the hardware market aside from Nintendo.

Seems Sony and MS enjoy marching to the beat of Nintendo's drum, too, or did you miss that whole Move/Kinect stuff? Or touchscreens being mainstream? Or controller rumble?

I could be here all day with this stuff, really, but the truth is I wouldn't assume any hardware manufacturer's future is set in stone with the way trends are going right now, nor would I tell any one of them to go third party for the sake of the platform I personally favor as that's just childish.

"Right because who would we have left to do any innovation in the hardware market aside from Nintendo."

coughapplecough

lololololololololololololololol.

Oh dear.

apple isnt innovative in any fasion. If anything they rip off not only the consumer and the developers with there nickle and dime tactics. Not to mention they are basically destroying the value of games

@ samhain

When your blood goes to work, do you hear the howl?

@ topic

3DSmehhhh...

@ Samhain I totally agree.

@ Stealth

"At a conference in Tokyo, Iwata told investors that he was taking responsibility for the 3DS's slow sales, along with a 50 percent reduction in pay as a result."

"1) The 3ds is outpacing the ds worldwide during a non holiday
2) The 3ds has been number 1/2 regularly in japan
3) The 3ds is outpacing ds numbers in US/europe "

None of these matter. What matters is how the 3DS is doing compared to the expectations of Nintendo. None of us know the marketing, hardware development, software development, manufacturing cost, etc. that goes into the 3DS. Nintendo does, but it makes decisions based on EXPECTATIONS.

Nintendo has signaled time and time again that the 3DS is BELOW EXPECTATIONS. I guess you could argue that Nintendo should've had lower expectations to begin with, and that doing all the stuff you harp on about should be enough. However, the fact that they're taking an UNPRECEDENTED STEP in cutting prices BY A THIRD and cutting pay for top executives means that Nintendo itself is very unhappy.

Worldwide weekly hardware sales as of July 23 2011
If you can trust VGChartz anyway ;)

PS3 137,589
DS 120,158
Wii 116,521
X360 115,577
PSP 85,470
3DS 71,316

What I think we are seeing here is the realization that hardware without consistently decent software to support it is going to do poorly, Just look at the Wii. We are also to a point where the promise of new 1st party games (Zelda, Mario, etc Some of which we know for a fact based on previous trends won't be delivered until the end of the consoles life cycle) are no longer enough to drive early console sales.

I will admit that the price drop is tempting me into breaking with my initial plan to wait for either the 3DSi or a highly compelling game title to dive into the 3DS.


@Stealth

When you say outpacing .... are you talking current sales or are you talking comparative sales from when the DS launched?

Because if its current sales ... of course the new hardware is going to sell better than the hardware that has been out for 5+ years. Considering those who would purchase it, most likely did so years ago. However if you are talking historical numbers from the same general time period in the original DS launch, there just might be something there.

Jim Sterling
"It's frankly something all companies need now and again. They spend a while at the top, get complacent, fall a peg or two, then deal with it."

Oh, God, THIS!

Has everybody already forgotton what kind of an asshole company Nintendo was when they ruled the industry with the NES? Who would want that to happen again?

As for the topic:

Oh no! Poor Mr. Yamauchi, whatever will he do? Will he now have to sell his BASEBALL TEAM, or the frikken' CASTLE he lives in to make ends meet? We should start a Telethon.

One other thing Stealth, you keep bringing up the fact that Nintendo's hardware forecast is the same as it was. This is true. However, this takes into account the fact that the price will drop by 1/3rd roughly halfway through the year. Presumably, in a world where there wasn't a price cut, there also would have to be a significant cut back in terms of forecasted 3DS sales. This is why project projections are down.

Of course, you can live in fantasy land all you want. Here, on Earth, the 3DS has not met expectations. Nintendo only thinks it can meet expectations if they cut the price by 1/3rd.

@Hugh G Rection

Because the price was his dumb idea and he had to take responsibility


@killias2's
So it doesnt matter because you say it doesnt matter? The 3ds was 400k units short of nintendos estimates. But in the bigger picture for a non holiday for a new handheld. Sales have been pretty ok and that was reflected in there financial forecast. Even analysts like jesse from EEDAR have said sales have been pretty ok. According to media create and enterbrain the 3ds will be the top selling system in japan this year.

Sounds ok to me

They can say whatever they want. Its the numbers that are important

They were smart in making the price cut as drastically as they did it will improve sales even further

@Stealth
Videogames.

@mcbattery.

I would never trust vgchartz. There numbers are based on algorithms. They over and under track like crazy. The only numbers worth believing are the ones the 3 companies give, mediacreate, enterbrain, ndp

"They were smart in making the price cut as drastically as they did it will improve sales even further"

According to your logic, where the 3DS is doing dandy, the price cut makes no sense. If you admit the price cut was a good idea, then you have to admit that the 3DS is underperforming.

Let me correct that sentence for you
"They were smart in making the price cut as drastically as they did it will allow them to hit their original expectations but with significantly reduced profit margins."

@El Conrado - Yeah, everyone seems to forget how they screwed Sony - and in so doing, indirectly caused the creation of the PS1 - by publicly humiliating them in front of everyone at that CES back in the 90's. People think Nintendo is just happy fun time, and that their executives are as lovable as fucking Kirby and Mario. Lulz.

@Stealth - More lulz. I guess it's up to one's opinion as to what is considered worthwhile as a "new feature." Personally, I don't consider the (long overdue) addition of an analog pad, bad battery life, and shitty, can't-move-it-or-it-won't-work 3D as "new features."

@Scuffles
Yes when the ds launched.

The ds sold 5 million in 6 months when 2 of those months were holiday months

The 3ds is at 4.5+ in 3-4 months during a non holiday

@ kill
Yes it takes everything into account and 16 million is no small number for a first year. And overall projections are down because the ds and wii projections are down the 3ds is steady


Loony expectations huh? I focus on the numbers not words



@killias2's
So it doesnt matter because you say it doesnt matter? The 3ds was 400k

I admit the price was terrible. The actual numbers are fine. Under or over performing is opinion. I focus on the numbers

The man's net worth is also over the equivalent of $8 billion, so I'm guessing he'll survive. Now Nintendo on the other hand, well I'm sure they'll survive too. After all, what goes up must come down, and they could have fallen quite a bit more than they are now. I wouldn't be surprised if things turned around for them relatively quickly at this point, though the Wii anchor around their leg will still probably keep them from operating at a profit this year.

We still need to learn more about the Wii-U, but it could certainly do really well depending on what happens. And if selling the 3DS at a slight loss grabs tons of new sales for the console then they might consider doing the same for the Wii-U right from the get go.

@DasPooch

See if you can understand

The ds lite is a revision of the original ds. It kept everything the same but the shape. The controls, the specs, the abilities were all the same. The ds lite could do everything the original ds could do

Now answer this honestly. Can the 3ds do EXACTLY Everything the dsi can? In terms of controls, specs, features?

I don't think we can blame the 3DS as being a bad system to have. Yes it was too expensive (and is at this time, stupid not to cut the price right now), but the problems is that right now I think gamers are more than happy with what they have got. XBOX 360, PS3 and PC gaming is the main focus for most of us. And with PC gaming on the rise I don't think right now is the best time to release a gaming device that doesn't seem to progress gaming and is purely a one trick pony (3D). I do believe Vita will be a success, it does seem to take handheld gaming to the next generation. The 3DS was and is seen by many as a DS with a slide button to make a 3D image that needs a steady hand and a steady head held at a certain angle to get the 3D effect, or in other words a waste of time. At least with the price cut we get a newer version of the DSi, with a slider button to make 3D...

I think it's the software not the hardware. Let's not forget the 3DS broke records with 1st day sales. People definitely wanted to try it out. And as for software I take the PSP as an example. The day Monster hunter dropped PSP sales sky rocketed in Japan.

Blame the hardware if you must, it's a matter of opinion ( I for one am not impressed.) But software really can make all the difference.

@ Scooneysteve here's to hoping they have learned something from this and the Wii U will both be affordable and have a kick ass line up.

Let me say this again:

The old expectations were this: 250 dollars (I'll ignore regional differences) X 16 million sales.

Now, it's 250 X 4 million (current sales at the current price), and 180 x 12 million (projected sales at the projected price). That's a difference of roughly 840 million dollars. There is NO WORLD in which you can just ignore the fact that Nintendo is cutting expectations of 3DS revenue by 840 million dollars for a single year. That's DEVASTATING. This isn't good news, and your spin is becoming more and more ridiculous.