Goodbye Iwata, you won't be missed.

Nintendos in trouble when it comes to home consoles. Being different and cheap on hardware has failed bad. The excuse of "being hardcore was the excuse for gc lowes" failed because now the wii-u a casual aimed system has failed. No excuse to not go par with the competition hardware wise next gen.

Kidding me?

Nintendo under Iwata:

Gamecube - Did OK.

DS - Success

Wii - Success

3DS - Success

Wii U - Failure, so far

Therefore, Iwata - Failure.

Doesn't seem logical.

Where exactly did this "Iwata gonna step down" thing come from?

hardcore gaming in general is going the way of the dodo.

Some mistranslated statement. Something even Iwata himself admitted to never saying.

Hell, before that, during the 3DS struggles he was reported to be fired (but obviously, that never happened).

If only nintendo Make a revamp WiiU vr 2.0...

same specs or between ps4 and xbone

release early 2014 and ditch the 1st version ..... it's not to late

How new are you? This isnt the first time Nintendo failed a fiscal prediction

They failed the 3DS and doing so, fixed themselves.

Frankly the big hit from the failure of getting that 9 million sales will hopefully give them a wake up call.

Jesus, that's beyond terrible.

I have been saying Iwata should be gone for years, ever since the beginning of the Wii era. But he's not but a symptom of huge underlying systematic problems in management and decisions made years in the past that are only now catching up to them. Nintendo's entire philosophy and the the attitude it's predicated upon and approached, combined with cultural factors, plus a good dose of hubris, arrogance, and stubbornness will all need to be addressed if they wish to turn things around. They need an entire shift in their mindset.

And this is precisely why I sincerely worry for Nintendo, because their problems are so incredibly deeply rooted into who they are as a company, down to their core that changing/eradicating them will take immense effort and a good deal of time to see the results from. Who they are and what they've really stood for in the past, the values they hold just don't jive with what is desired by the market today, and they just seemingly won't even consider any other path and plod forward regardless. And the frustrating thing is, going down this path would not necessarily have to compromise what they are for, but they seem to believe so.

I think getting rid of Iwata is a great first step, solely based on the fact that I don't believe he holds the right type of "alpha" go-get 'em, competitive mentality suitable for an effective CEO to be successful in the long run. But there are HUGE issues within the company otherwise that need addressing. Something desperately needs to change.

I don't think that'd happen at all. I'm sure Nintendo would be very selective about who it puts in charge. Someone who understands and will retain Nintendo's core values but would be able to effectively execute them in today's market, not simply a suit that would bring in immediate profits.

They're interesting numbers, but they were very different times in the industry. But then that probably makes it worse.

Their handheld success is standard for the company, they know what they're doing and follow the formula. The Wii success was nothing to do with him, it was a high risk console, why do you think it was so weak? Because Nintendo couldn't possibly have predicted it would take off. They made it weak so if the console went under, it wouldn't take the company with it.

'backed to the wall' Nintendo is the best Nintendo. They'll pull something off that we can't even imagine.

That's a scary scenario, but what are the chances they would ignore hundreds of millions of Playstation/Xbox gamers so they can go make mobile shovelware? I'm not saying it CANT happen (and it is a scary thought) but i think logic and sanity would prevail, they would make console and mobile games.

Which a good chunk of would just ignore?

Its not as bad as it looks. Now that the xbox one and ps4 are out lets see how Nintendo handles 2014 and if he can't get the Wii u up by march of 2015 (End of Nintendo fiscal year?) then the console is a flop.

If it were me in charge, I would allow iwata to take charge of one more console launch to see if he could redeem himself, only because he did a good job with the Wii lol.

One thing that puzzles me about Iwata, and Nintendo in general: how could a company with the same people running it have such a commercial success as the Wii yet screw up so badly with the Wii U? What is different now than then? This disparity only goes to reinforce my belief that the Wii was such a powerful novelty that hit at exactly the right time that it not only raked in the money but obscured all the faults we're currently seeing plague Nintendo now. Seeing the state of the Wii U and the drastic fall Nintendo's taken over a relatively short time-span, I can't come to any other conclusion. One doesn't just suck so badly right after they've ridden so highly on success.

The Wii simply was a fad. You can't predict or replicate a fad.

I don't think there was any brilliant marketing or genius behind the Wii anymore than Furby or Beanie Babies. Sometimes it just "happens". But this unpredictability is exactly why it can't be repeated, and sometimes there is even a negative effect on the follow-up product. I think that is what happened with Nintendo. It was huge fad with casuals, which led to a parabolic sales spike in 2007-2008. But since then, they basically didn't deliver the goods for hardcore gamers once they had the original Wii in their hands. So not only are they not repeating the "fad" success from casuals, but they actually alienated alot of their long term fans.

Combine that with a confusing product like Wii-U, and it is a recipe for disaster.

It does make it worse. The gaming industry is much bigger than it was 10+ yrs ago. 220K now is like 120K 10 yrs ago.

The year of Luigi. Please Understand measures like this were destined to save Nintendo. The year of Luigi.

Every game is ignored by the majority of gamers. Sounds weird but it's true. A game like Halo that sells 10 million copies still leaves another 70 million Xbox owners that DON'T own it. When Mario Kart Wii sells 30 million copies, that's another 70 million Wii owners who DON'T own it.

Regardless, if you think Nintendo games couldn't sell on 360 or PS3, you're simply a fool. They make literally the most popular, highest profile, best selling, most critically acclaimed games in the world. Those games being played on a slightly different looking chunk of metal and plastic wouldn't change that.

Well, when said console systems have audiences that are generally interested in something else. Last I checked, there are people who no longer find appeal in Nintendo's games and that's part of the reason why they jumped ship to PlayStation/XBOX (yeah, part of that is the "kiddy" and "nostalgia" generalizations that Nintendo systems have been stuck with for who knows how long and unfortunately WILL keep it as long as the plumber, the hero of time, and the kid with six monsters continue on).

lol..yea that was dumb..what did Wii U get? a reskin NSMBU. :P

I think it was maybe a bit of luck they had with the Wii it had motion controls casuals could enjoy it but the motion controls faded out. Sony have basically ditched the Move and just gone on to make a console which won't have any. Microsoft as well look like they will ditch the Kinect soon too. Nintendo just don't seem to understand nobody wants gimmicky controls anymore.

Yes, let's replace Iwata with the same guys who are in charge of Square Enix right now, and chase after the fool's gold known as Smartphone gaming.

LMAO. sheep clamed a crashed ws coming and how sony and ms shouddrop out the console business and let nintendo run it

Delusional?

And the 3DS is doing exceptionally well. He has no reason to step down.

@Devil-Itachi: http://blip.tv/gameoverthinker/episode-83-the-next-crash-6566433

sheep want a crash :D

Their 'reshashes' of their old stable of 8 bit games are the primary reason I have a Wii U. Granted, I'd LOVE to see some new Nintendo IPs, but their old franchises are still fantastic and it's amazing how relevant Nintendo have kept them over the years. Compare Mario to, say, Final Fantasy. Which has aged better? Which is still adored universally by its fans and which is hated by the majority of the fans who made the series what it is today?

Thank goodness for that, they need to step up their game in console market. They've lost so much ground that gained by the Wii it's not even funny.

Wii U just really needs the proper software/advertising to draw people in. All the talk of things like virtual console prices and whatnot are generally irrelevant (though clearly improving such areas would make Wii U owners happier).

3DS tech & features in comparison to the Vita, smartphones and tablets are fairly lackluster but it's a bread winner for Nintendo for obvious reasons. It has games people want.

2014 will be a make it or break it year for Nintendo.

@foxhound_fox: And a mainstream Mario struggles to sell even tiny numbers. Yes he does.

I'm going to repeat this, and keep repeating it, until you seem to get it: you simply can't generalise an audience of hundreds of millions of gamers. That's simply nonsense. Nor can you pretend that Nintendo games which are the best selling and most critically acclaimed in the world would fail simply because of a different machine playing them.

You need some evidence for your crazy sweeping claims, and you never have any.

Wii was a success in terms of the casual audience, but the console sucked overall.

No they should have made unique and original games instead of jerking off 25+ year old franchises CONSTANTLY.

They should have had a better setup for their online community.

They should have no based everything around an overly expensive piece of gimmick hardware.

They should have tried to fix their problems instead of saying "prease undahstand"

But marios good.

Not good enough that that's all nintendo has depended on since they started gaming. Ppl are getting sick of mario. Rehash after rehash. And the sheep keep saying "you dont like fun" or "play your generic military shooter", well why wont nintendo's dumbasses try something different for once? Oh, it's bevause they don't have the talent to do so.

@imdaman4realz: That is so true.

And the notion that all there is on the other consoles is fun free military shooters! Yeah right. People play games for fun. That's what they are. Have fun missing out on basically all the third party. That includes a lot more than military shooters.

close.... 32 MILLION!!! Yeah... 32.

@whatsazerg: Bundled with a heavily casual console. 32 million people, if that is the real figure, didn't go out and buy Mario Kart wii. They bought a wii which came with Mario Kart.

But I like Mario.

How about looking at the top selling games for each platform? I think it says a lot on what the audiences on each system generally likes. Sure, generalizing isn't a good idea (and heck, I hate it too), but that's how most of these things work if you regard what people would buy seeing the sales (hey, Nintendo fans buy nothing but kids games and/or first party games only with Mario/Zelda/Pokemon/Smash Bros are generalizations, but anyone who visits forums like this know that isn't true for EVERY Nintendo gamer, myself included as I have third party games on Nintendo systems).

Funny how you say Nintendo's popularity will be fine if they went multiplatform, because sticking to that logic, Super Mario 3D World would sell equally as bad, if not worse if it had an "upgraded port" (ala Sonic Adventure on GameCube and PC) to PS4/XBOX ONE.

Exactly. Mario is losing steam. Nintendo needs to get their act together and create compelling new IP, or they will slowly fade into irrelevance.

Literally bundle it with a 3DS and sell it for 350.

@locopatho:

I'm not saying they are/were bad games, I'm saying they aren't going to save them this time. Nintendo needs a great stable of new IPs immediately.

People have been saying that same thing since the GameCube. Like I said, I'd love to see some new Nintendo IPs, and I think it has reached the time where they do need some new ones. But relying on their staples isn't the reason the Wii U is failing.

But they DO have the talent. That's what makes it all the worse.

Doesnt mean he will step down, but they may need some kind of gimmick to pull people in. But then again, gimmicks are gimmicks and they dont stay a fad for a long time.