Nintendo has released their quarterly financial results for the three months ending in June 2011 and it is not pretty. Net sales are down fifty percent from the same period last year, totaling just under 94 billion yen and the company operated at a loss of 25.5 billion yen. Factors which contributed to the disappointing showing include marketing for the 3DS and the strength of the yen over the dollar but it's really all about lackluster sales.
Painting a clear picture as to the reasons for today's price drop, Nintendo 3DS sales were bleak at 710,000 hardware units. Seeing as the console launched in North America and Europe merely a week prior to the start of the quarter, that's a pretty rough number, and Nintendo acknowledges a lack of hit titles as a contributing factor with only 4.53 million software units sold. Other DS hardware collectively sold 1.44 million units and Nintendo is attributing 1.56 million Wii units to the price drop and bundling of Mario Kart Wii back in May.
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Contest:
5:00 AM on 07.28.2011 | 
Those numbers arent bleak
"marketing for the 3DS" and "bleak sales" arent the same damn thing. Come on destructoid.
Nintendo is actually happy about those kind of sales. Much higher than any other system the put out at first
"nintendo actually said this" but its really something I am just now about to make up.
Nintendo said they have a problem with 3ds marketing. And then they immidiately attack the sales which were never mentioned because they need something to write about
The 3ds has currently been in first 4 out of 6 weeks in japan with 2 second place finishes and US sales that are completely outclassing the ds.
This was every fucking month for 2 years. This happens to be at the 6 month point
Heres a link to the actual forecast for anyone that cares about the truth
"It also lowered shipment forecasts for Wii and DS, but kept 3DS shipment targets unchanged and increased 3DS software targets."
Did anyone think this is the reason to thelowered profits?
At least Nintendo is admitting its not doing amazing. Not bad though considering where the ds was compared to the 3ds and it didn't launch anywhere near a holiday. Hopefully the bulk of games will be here soon!
Nintendo never said anything about the 3ds other than being a success in the forecast if you consider an increase in software projection and the same high hardware projection bad.
Nintendo is doing bad on the ds and wii front. Not on the 3ds front as the forecast said.
haha just kidding of course they won't.
on Wii's campaign Nintendo spend over 200mln$ in US alone just in first year and nearly 100mln$ for every single year after that.
DS also had several gigantic campaign - like UK's Touch Me that cost nearly 40mln euros.
loss has nothing to do with slow sales considering how much Nintendo is making per unit it's because lower software sales and mostly marketing campaign for 3DS, Wii, DS(and possibly Wii U's).
Stealth ^
But of course you can get away with it when you dont even link the forecast. You can make people believe anything I guess.
Its the ds and wii that fell off the cliff hence the lowered forecast
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/07/28/nintendo_earnings/
"Nintendo cited stronger-than-expected yen appreciation, sales performance, the price reduction of the 3DS hardware, and sales outlook for the holiday season. "
"The company expects to sell 9 million DS systems, 16 million 3DS system and 12 million Wii systems. The 3DS figure is unchanged, but the DS and Wii figures are down respectively from 11 million and 13 million.
On the software forecast front, the company expects to sell more 3DS software. Compared to the 62 million it announced in April, it now expects 70 million units. DS software forecasts were cut from 67 million to 62 million. Wii was cut from 120 million to 110 million."
Posting one more time so people can see whats actually happening, and not something made up.
"Nintendo posted an operating loss of 37,712 million yen over the period, compared to the 23,342 million operating gain last year. Net loss remained level at 25,516 million yen"
and
"Reasons cited by Nintendo for the losses included the exchange rate, costs associated with advertising the 3DS, and costs related to research and development for the upcoming Wii U system."
I didn't study economics in school, but it follows to me that if you're attributing marketing on a product you sell to be part of your loss, that marketing did not receive a Return on Investment to balance the money spent. They didn't sell enough 3DS units to cover the marketing costs. So, the 3DS sold poorly compared to expectations.
Am I missing something? honestly, not sarcastically. Because I want you to get your point across effectively.
And if anyone things a new system will ever record break is a fool.
If they are saying we didnt spend enough money on marketing and sales are actually pretty good. Then its something different.
All 3ds forecasts went up. The 3ds went above expectations this quarter.
And thats really not suprising. The 3ds has gotten off to a better start than the ds
The 3ds is estimated to be the highest selling system in japan this year.
Why?
A low price, a lineup of big name exclusives that no other system can match ( mario, kid icarus, pokemon, FF, DQ)
Whoa, now I wouldn't go that far. Nintendo's a pretty savvy company, and manages their financials pretty well. While I think Stealth is running real hard defense force, I think he's right in noting that these aren't necessarily gloom and doom (which I wasn't really getting from the info or the way the article was written).
Price cut on 3DS probably puts them just at selling to break even (since every nintendo console sells for a profit day one). No bleeding, save for marketing cost, presumably, because people love price cuts.
Losses posted for WiiU development? sure it happens. Hopefully it pays off (probably will, imo)
Net loss compared to bananas / gangbuster numbers for the Wii craze of the past few years? Well, that's a hard act to follow, right? And hey... there really just isn't anything going on there. perhaps a calculated move to keep things level and cool until the next big console release? Boring, but maybe sound business.
All considered, I don't think Nintendo going out of business is all that likely. Not with anything we've seen of how they perform and operate in general.
But hey, I'm no Micheal Pachter.
"The 3ds is estimated to be the highest selling system in japan this year.
Why? "
Because lowballing your estimates will lower your shareholder buy in. :)
I am not running "defense force". I just want the article linked with exactly what nintendo has said.
If nintendo said sales stunk in the forecast. I cant argue with that
But they said the opposite. So I get annoyed.
Well no quarrel about the link. It is preferrable.
But, I still figure that attributing marketing for a product to a loss indicates that sales didn't perform as expected. Doesn't that make sense?
The 3ds was the only brightspot on that report. Which makes sense since 2 systems are on the way out
Guys, every company can have a bad quarter. Dead or Alive: Dimensions and Ocarina of Time aside, the 3DS doesn't really have much on it right now that'll provoke people to buy. Hell, they just posted an eighty-dollar price drop. That doesn't happen if things are going well.
Nintendo can stumble every once in a while. Remember the N64 and Gamecube? Of course you do! This isn't the first bleak period and it won't be the last. Nintendo =/= infallible.
^Stealth
Whether nintendo (as a company), the ds, or wii did poorly is another issue which is actually backed up in the forecasts.