Overall sales expectations down for hardware and software, but Nintendo expects weak yen to be advantageous for the company.
Lower than expected sales of the Wii U has caused Nintendo to cut sales forecasts of the fledgling console by 27 percent for its current financial year, down to 4 million units sold from its initial expectation of 5.5 million.
The gaming giant expects to make a net profit of ¥14 billion ($2.2 billion) for its current financial year--which ends in March 2013--as opposed to the ¥43 billion ($6.9 billion) loss it suffered last year.
Nintendo also revised its sales forecasts for the Wii, 3DS and DS, with the 3DS sales expected to reach 15 million by the end of March.
The company also expects to suffer a loss on its operating income, but expects an overall profit thanks to an advantageous exchange rate due to the currently weak yen.
3.06 million Wii U consoles and 11.69 million Wii U games have been sold worldwide since since the hardware's launch last November, with 1.32 million going to North America, 900,000 to Europe and 830,000 to Japan.
The most popular Wii U games, perhaps unsurprisingly, were Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros. U, with 2.33 million and 2.01 million sold respectively.
Pokemon Black and White 2 managed to notch up 7.63 million sales worldwide since its Japanese launch in June, so the publisher be likely be particularly keen to see how the new, 3DS-exclusive Pokemon X and Y fares when it's launched globally in October 2013.
Last week Nintendo announced a new Zelda title and a new 3D Mario to bolster the Wii U's lineup.
Martin Gaston has absolutely never at all had the song from Beauty and the Beast sung to him at any point during his life, ever.
2 Like I hate how Nintendo always includes pack-in games or peripherals in the sales reports. Nintendo Land did not sell 2.33 million copies, just as Wii Sports didn't sell 50 million copies. That $50 price difference gets you more than just Nintendo Land. So it's wrong to say you SOLD 2+ million copies of a game that you gave away.
2 Like Here is the problem for Nintendo. Say they go the 3DS route and cut the price then, Sony and MS will cut their price because right now believe it or not those systems can still compete with the Wii U even spec wise in some cases. So Nintendo goes to 250 for the deluxe and 199 for the base unit MS and Sony can lower to 179 or 149 with more HD space. Nintendo made a huge tablet gamble and should have went smaller screen on a almost traditional controller to lower costs. They need a big E3 so big that they can finesse there way to victory. Otherwise a price drop is not going to matter because arguably PS3 and 360 are getting tons of games from 3rd parties that Nintendo is not.
@painpas That not Wii U problem.
It the lack on Nintendo games releasing at the beginning of the year. But in Spring we have some.
@djmaster1994 @painpas What you just said is the essential problem of the past few Nintendo consoles. It's become ingrained in everyones mind that ONLY 1st party games from Nintendo are worthwhile/system sellers. Sony and Microsoft have tons of exclusive/multi plat 3rd party games that drive system sales.
It shouldn't have to be a Nintendo game to be worthwhile. There should be good 3rd party games too. There are only a couple series even worthwhile though, Monster Hunter, Xenoblade, and a few other RPG. Beyond that the Wii was full of shovelware and mini games and 1st party gems.
1 Like @painpas There's nothing "arguably" about it. The 360/PS3 ARE getting tons of games the Wii U is not. That's a fact, good sir.
i think there is two good signals that wi u could be in trouble:
one is the ps3 and xbox 360 are selling more unit than the wi u
second the wi u lineup is poor
1 Like Nintendo really needs to knock it out of the park at E3. I know they have games on the way, but they are not handling this launch well at all.
@djmaster1994 3 million people who already knew they wanted a Wii U. The next 3 million are waiting to be convinced so they won't be as easy to get, especially if they decide to hold out for a PS4 or 720 depending on what details we get in the next couple of months.
1 Like @Princess_Rectum So you're saying the initial 3 million sales didn't go to people who knew from the start that they wanted a Wii U mainly because it was the new Nintendo console?
@OHGFawx .... LOLWUT how the hell do you figure THAT of all things?
No no you're wrong it's 3 million grandmothers who bought one for their grandchildren. I know this because I asked them then ran to the Gamespot forums with my newfound knowledge.
lol seriously people on the internet pretending they understand the market.... funny.
They'll probably cut the price at least two times before Sony and Microsoft release their next consoles.
EA " Riccitiello briefly addressed the upcoming shift in console generations, commenting that he ?wouldn't say that we see much correlation between the results that Nintendo has just shown with their console debut of the Wii U and what we see coming.? He added that ?we would argue that what we're describing as Gen 4 is yet to come. And it's with that, we're excited about, and that's what we're investing in" EA SAID THIS ON IGN THEY DONT SEE THE WIIU AS NEXT GEN this is a problem
@emptycow Maybe you should have posted the link to that article instead of one pretty much saying the same information that was mentioned here.
People are getting sick of the 59.99 price points drop your prices game companies the world is in a recession don't ya know?
1 Like And where do you think developers are going to get the money to you know, live? Actually $59.99 is a favor for us gamers considering how HD gaming has jacked up development costs by around 3-4 times and yet the games themselves have only increased by $10.
@abHS4L88 @JasPlun super mario is not a high budget game at all also game do not have to cost $60 look at movie budgets they are alot higher then game budgets again games do not have to cost $60 for sure not games like super mario u that was disgusting that nintendo would put that game at a $60 price
1 Like Did you know that the average game (HD game) costs around $30M-$50M to make? AAA titles tend to be triple or even quintuple that amount, going as high as even $200M to make. Why do you think Studio 38 required Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning to sell about 5m units and closed down because it failed to get anywhere close to that?
I agree that 2D Mario games tend to not have as big a budget but 3D Mario games are most certainly large budget productions for Nintendo. Also I remember reading that Nintendo has placed their A team from EAD to work on New Super Mario Bros. U, which was in development for a couple of years. The longer a game is in production, the more resources it uses up, which is why gamers usually take delays as something positive rather than a negative, because they know that the developer is sacrificing more of their time and money in order to achieve the best product.
1 Like I know this is a nintendo section but Killzone Merc gameplay trailer is up and graphics are pretty good
What is everyone defination of "causal gaming" is it a ceratin amount of time people spend playing games?
1 Like @Axile11 Plan and simple (as ridiculous as this sounds) anybody who plays a Nintendo system regardless of what u play and how many hours.
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I'm still waiting for the real Zelda for wiiU not the remake one. If that one plays like the one in the tech demo, then it might have a chance from getting bought from me. I just hope they don't downgrade Zelda to casual gaming style.
nintendo has a image problem they went from being the kids systems to now being the kids/casual gamer system i think nintendo lost close to all the core fans for this reason they also lost the 3rd party and most core game fans all nintendo has now is a vary small number of nintendo die hard mario heads i really like mario but i dont feel like spending $350 to play a 2d mario game i have never been a smash bro fan i think nintendos first party is weak and the 3rd party on the wiiu will be the weakest 3rd party support nintendo has ever had it will be up there with the n64 i think the this system could be a big fail for them the control is just ok nothing mind blowing nintendo never should have put so much hype into the control they should have put the hype in the system
@Axile11 @emptycow who said i said it nintendo said it when they make 99%%%% of all there first party games e rated cartoons they also say it when everytime you see the system on tv its a family going ape shit playing it they also insult peoples intelligence by saying its not better hardware you want its this dumbass control you want with the same graphics from 7 years ago with no 3rd party support then they come out and say look we have the same old first party nintndo games coming games coming soon its a joke and when sony and microsoft show off the real next gen systems in the next few months nintendo is going to look stupid
@GameBeaten @emptycow gamestop makes sometimes more money on a game then the people that made it thats the big problem you also got stuff like game fly that to me is also hurting the gaming bizz they must cut this out games need to be $20 if not that then $40 tops you look at the stories about free to play being the new thing why not make the games $20 then just sell alot of dlc some games dont even sell 1 million copies the game bizz is not like the movie or music biz most times if a game dont sell in the first 2 or 3 months if it comes out at the wrong time it will be swollowed and people wont ever buy it the $60 price is the big problem thats a big reason people only buy the most hyped games 3rd parties have to ask themself sell 1 million or less copies for $60 then add in dlc or sell the game for $20 and sell 10 or 20 million copies then add in dlc
@emptycow @GameBeaten That's the problem. They can't. That's how high the budget for games has increased. They need to sell at the right price so everyone involved with a game's creation can get paid respectfully. A game won't be $20 or $30 until stores put them on discount in order to get rid of stock so they put new items on shelves.
Once those games do get marked down to $20 or $30 the developer of said game is going to have trouble making any profit if they haven't already. This is one of the reasons a lot of developers have gone bankrupt.
@GameBeaten @emptycow one of the big problems with the $60 price tag is people miss alot of games most people wont buy 10 $60 games a year so what you find is they buy 3 or 4 or less thats not good for the gaming bizz one of the big reasons for the $60 games is gamestop i think its best if they cut out the used game market and sell games for $20 or $30 the game makers have to think about it this way do you want 2 million people buying your game or do you want 30 million people buying your game the $60 price tag is a barrier and it needs to be broken
@emptycow Dude, killing the used game market would just force people to buy new. Companies HAVE to sell a certain number of games at full price within a certain amount of time in order to make any profit.
Scroll down a bit on this article. It has some pie charts from Forbes.com as to why games today already cost $60 (Gears of War being the example). Depending on the capabilities of the new Playstation and Xbox, production costs could go up even further and therefore drive up the price of a game for those consoles.
http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2012/07/02/the-rise-of-costs-the-fall-of-gaming/
@GameBeaten @emptycow if microsoft and sony cut out the used game market they could start selling games for $40 $30 or even $20 new games not used games like uncharted 4 could cost $30 and if they did kill the used game market it would be smart to lower the cost of new games
@emptycow @GameBeaten Okay, yeah, you made your point. You don't like Nintendo. You sure are committing a lot of time here.
The Wii U's success is still debatable at this point, but they may do just fine if they are fortunate enough. As for the next Playstation and Xbox, higher production cost on their games will probably require them to sell a hell of a lot of copies at full price at any profit. Who knows what the games on those consoles will cost.
Back to dancing.
@GameBeaten @emptycow its a art its not just about smiling just as movies are not all about smiling
@GameBeaten @emptycow you guess wrong i know how marketing works thats how i know nintendo has some of the most insulting trash ads around look at this trash .....hey honey look at them crazy japs they giving us some odd future toy ...and yes again they are selling this thing the same way borinig toys are sold some people going ape shit with a smile its cheap brainless advertising %s
@emptycow Well they had to demonstrate the Wii remote somehow at the time. Plus video games pretty are a toy regardless of if it is a game on Wii U, PS3, or 360.
But enough talk. LETS DANCE!
@GameBeaten @emptycow and this is the expected reaction of red still nintendo treats gaming like its just a toy its a art %s
@emptycow @GameBeaten I'm guessing you don't know how marketing works in general for any company. Also, that's pretty much the expected reaction from people when playing Jenga.
@GameBeaten this is how nintendo sells its systems in a nutshell its insulting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3wpPRdDy4E
@GameBeaten @emptycow my point is nintendo tell people how they should feel its a dirty way to sell something http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7H6wGy5zf4
@GameBeaten @emptycow nintendo is just telling people how they should feel its the same trash toy makers do in there ads %s
@emptycow @GameBeaten I already have. Never saw that Dreamcast or PS2 one before. The Wii U commercial at least shows stuff being done involving games and other features.
@Axile11 @emptycow@Axile11 @emptycow this is why nintendo lost almost all its core gamers nintendo has to understand most core game buyers are not 10 years old this wont work this is a joke this trash is insulting peoples intelligence and they cant even sell this idea properly look at the part with the two older people i think they are showing net flix and they dont even show the screen they just keep showing the control i mean is this thing a handheld or a game system i bet you many people think this thing is just a tablet %s
2 Like @emptycow why do you keep using the term casual gamer? You sound like an elitist. Games are made for everyone not just "hardcore gamers"
@Axile11 @emptycow the point is not to have the family play together if that were true nintendo would have more games for the family to play its ust a joke nintendo wants to sell this thing to the casual gamer but yet all the system has is old first party games most of them made not for a family to play but made for 1 or 2 players even the nintendo wiiu ads are a joke a lie
@emptycow so its wrong for a family to enjoy playing together or introducing kids to video games?
Nintendo to release updated version of Legend of Zelda RPG for Wii U this fall; new entry that will "rethink conventions" of Zelda also on the way.
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