Iwata: Think our sales "already peaked"?

"The days when any Nintendo DS software could sell are over, and consumers have become more selective..."

shovelware isn't selling on the DS any more

Many of the charts are basically meaningless without a comparion with competing consoles. Most of the charts display a substantial drop in 2010 compared with 2009, which would be understandable if other consoles suffered a similar drop. The charts don't contain this information.

What ridiculous cynical analysis you have provided here. Placing comments in inverted commas does not suddenly intone the rightness of your analysis. Indeed, you have made essentially none. It might be back to journalism school for you Robert, if this article is any indicator.

As an example, Jimmy Webb, on your sister site GamesIndustry, made a much more sound analysis of the impact of the Yen currency write off which you dismiss so blithely:

"Keep in mind that this includes the $794 million one time currency write off they took last quarter. If you remove that, they would have made almost $750 million in profit. In fact, that means for the most recent quarter, they DID generate almost $300 million in profit.

We should also remember that they are currently buying massive volumes of components for the 3DS.
Jimmy Webb at 16:34 on 28/10/2010 (Gamesindustry.biz)

Jimmy Webb
Executive Editor/Community Director,
E-mpire Ltd. Co.

Robert, this is an example of how one does analysis. I suggest the use of a Dictionary to help in your cause and hope to see better stories from you in the future.

Here's a fuller account of Nintendo's financial status:


Nintendo's results for the six months ending September 30, 2010 have just arrived. It was a pretty slow quarter for the company. Revenue reached 363.16b Yen for the first six months of the March 2011 year. That is down from 548.058b Yen over the same period last year. At 81.7 Yen to the dollar, Nintendo's revenues were only $4.5 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year, down from $6.7 billion over the same period in 2009. Nintendo posted a loss of 2.011 billion yen ($24.6m loss) for the first half of the fiscal year, on large, non-corporate based risks that went sour in the June quarter. In the previous fiscal year, Nintendo had a 69.492 billion Yen profit over the first six months, about $850 million in profit at current rates. That said, Nintendo's September quarter must have just about offset the huge (25.216b Yen loss / -$283m at July exchange rates) June quarter loss to get the six month figure to near even, and so Nintendo is profiting again and on target to hit its revised monetary targets. In other words, Nintendo profits were about $250m for the September quarter going by April to September minus April to June results, since Nintendo only totals its earnings cumulatively by quarter for each fiscal year.

Nintendo shipped 1.93m Wiis for the quarter, the first sub-2m quarter for Wii hardware ever. Nonetheless, Wii hardware shipments now stand at 75.9m units lifetime through September 2010 and should top 80 million units by the end of the year. Nintendo still expects Wii hardware shipments to reach 17.5m units for the year to March 2011. For DS, Nintendo has now shipped 135.58m DS systems lifetime through September 2010, meaning 3.54m DS systems were shipped during the quarter. That is a slight pick up from the previous quarter, presumably because of Pokemon and the recent DS price cuts.

On the software front, Nintendo noted how its top software performed over the first half of the fiscal year. For Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2 shipments are 5.1m units through September 2010, and Nintendo reconfirmed that Wii Party was a million-seller in the September quarter from Japanese sales alone. For DS, Pokemon Black / White shipments reached 4.07m units - and once again the title only launched in Japan during the quarter. Nintendo also slightly raised its software forecast to 138m units for Wii from 135m units (neither figure includes bundled software, which will be about 30m units this FY because of the two western bundled games and the new bundles in Nov).

Lifetime to date software shipments figures for Wii stand at 610.04m units lifetime through September. That is a 37.04m unit increase from the previous quarter - rather impressive as no more than 4m units of bundled software shipped for the quarter with hardware shipments so low. The Wii now has an attach rate of 8.037 units per console on a shipment basis (610.04m games / 75.9m Wiis) - and obviously with WW and VC that figure would be higher still. DS software shipments reached 773.34m units lifetime through September 2010, an increase of 32.41m units from the June 2010 quarter - with about 15% of that from Pokemon alone. DS remains Nintendo's largest software ecosystem ever, but Wii is slowly catching up as the massive DS base buys fewer and fewer games. With DS hardware shipments at 135.58m units, the DS attach rate is 5.70 games shipped per DS system worldwide through September 2010. Regionally, the DS software market stands at 306.62m / 49.28m DS units in the Americas, 190.00m / 31.55m DS units in Japan, 276.73m / 54.75m DS systems in Others. For Wii, the splits are at 334.45m / 35.91m Wiis in the Americas, 221.92m / 29.2m Wiis in Others, and 53.67m / 10.79m Wiis in Japan.

Overall, DS is approaching GB hardware figures in Japan, and now rivals NES / SNES software figures in Japan. Wii remains Nintendo's biggest software market ever in the Americas and the best selling Nintendo console worldwide, and especially outside Japan and the USA. Looking at Nintendo's software history visually, it is pretty clear that Wii is going to destroy the software figures DS reaches in the Americas and Others, as Wii software is within 50m units of DS software in Others with 25m fewer users, and ahead of DS software in the Americas with 15m fewer users.

Well my interest peaked, about an hour after I got the Wii home and realised it was shite.

I don't read between the lines personally, generally because there aren't any words there.

Just saying.

@elvenearth alright love, calm down, its not like anyone's been killed. Why don't you sit down and have a nice cup of tea?

My interest has never waned except for some 3rd parties after I saw how they treat Nintendo home consoles and the intelligence of their customers (e.g Our Wii game didn't sell well because of XYZ where as is still made them lots of money and didn't sell as well as the wanted because of ABC).

Placing comments in inverted commas does not suddenly intone the rightness of your analysis. Indeed, you have made essentially none. It might be back to journalism school for you Robert, if this article is any indicator.

I don't understand....it seems you believe Robert The Journalist came up with this analysis of Nintendo's financial status? All he's doing is quoting what Iwata said to investors. He is relaying information from another source. Reporting, if you would. Much like reporters are wont to do...


The bits in inverted commas? That's not dramatic effect or intonation. It's merely indicating which words were directly stated by Iwata as a contrast to some which Robert has paraphrased for brevity. You will find this useful tool of the English language in many a publication, both printed and online!

I won't disagree with your analysis, no sir! Just direct your vitriol at Iwata rather than a lowly young hack who may not have ever been near the LSE and has never pretended to know what to do with a demand/supply curve...

Er, Satoru, the Wii has peaked, mate. The Wii bubble has burst.The Wii is now being outsold by the 360 and PS3. Granted, it's not being outsold by much, but it's still being outsold. And this Christmas, the Wii will be wiped out in sales by the 360 thanks to Kinect and its shovelware. The casuals are abandoning the Wii for Kinect.

Am I the only one who thinks that of all spokespersons for the great three, Iwata is the only one who is not sounding like an ass

I just dont understand how this console sells so much... Its sooo shit

@elvinearth (or whatever your alias is).

Does it take practice to type such patronising prose? Get your head out of your own arse, take a step back, and realise you're not only wide off the mark but you totally missed the point of this 'news article'.

No doubt you were too busy being furious over the Internet (not sure why you were acting in such a way - was the dwarf porn website down much to your annoyance?) to actually think before typing your complete limbo dancing post. I'm sure you're really fun at parties.

Don't have a Wii, but the only thing that would make me buy a Wii is if Nintendo decided to release Xenoblade and The Last Story here in Europe. And I'm rather skeptical of Nintendo doing so, they don't really have the best track record of bringing JRPGs to Europe.

@Eddwah

Lol and yes.

I am not trying to be overly critical against Robert. I encourage him - certainly - to keep on trying his hand at reporting and writing articles. I agree that he does bring in quotes, but would suggest that these have been used in an inaccurate way (selectively in other words). The subsequent analysis of quotes Robert uses is often jarring to more proper accuracy. In particular, the start of the article sets the tone,

"Satoru Iwata has used a bunch of his favourite graphs to prove that Nintendo's Wii and DS are not doing badly in shops, despite posting a six-month profit loss of $25 million (£15 million) recently."

Based on the information I have given already, it can be seen that this is not giving the required contextual analysis. This is not meant to be an opinion piece after all, but a representation of applicable facts.

Again, I can point to Eurogamer's sister site to show how this kind of story should be done:

[link url=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2010-11-01-iwata-wii-has-not-lost-momentum-in-us
]http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/20...[/link]


Iwata: 'Wii has not lost momentum in US'
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has pointed out to investors that the Wii is still selling better than the PS2 was at this stage of its lifecycle in the US, with 27.14 million units sold after four years at market in comparison to PS2's 22.09 million.

Iwata also made clear that, although sales figures for the console had dipped from peak levels, the January to September sales figures for the consoles fifth year, 2010, were better than those of the PS2, still the best-selling home console overall in North America.

From January until September 2010, Wii sold 3.21 million units, 22 per cent more than the PS2 did in the January to September period of its fifth year.

"I hope each and all these charts will convince you that Wii, as a machine set to welcome its fifth holiday sales season, can never be considered to have lost momentum," Iwata told investors.

The president was also confident that Nintendo would be maintaining their historical sales lead over PS2.

"Wii's cumulative units-sold lead over PS2 until its fourth year in the US market was 23 per cent. For Wii to maintain or extend this 23 per cent lead in its fifth year, Nintendo will need to sell 5.7 million units of Wii hardware in the US, but it looks like that there won't be so much trouble for the company to outnumber this."

The figures were part an extended presentation on the current state of the console market and Nintendo's position in it - an attempt by Mr Iwata to calm investors after Nintendo's relatively negative financial reports were interpreted as a sign of decline by some analysts. Nintendo said the loss as purely due to re-evaluation of assets held in foreign currencies after a strong period of growth for the yen.

Included in the report was an assessment of the DS's dropping figures, in which Iwata conceded that the slowing sales were something to be concerned about, even though market share in the handheld arena had increased for the DS in comparison to the PSP.

"While this year's Nintendo DS hardware unit sales fell in the first nine months in comparison to the same period last year, Nintendo DS increased its market share from 81 per cent to 83 per cent," he said.

"Of course, we cannot afford to feel happy about this increased market share at all now that the total unit sales have declined. Now that Nintendo DS hardware has reached such a high level of its installed base, it has become even more important for us to materialise the remaining sales potential."

Moving on to Europe, Iwata was forced to admit that the sales figures painted a pretty unconvincing picture for Nintendo, showing that the company had lost ground to its rivals in the territory, although he quickly pointed out that the Wii was still dominant.

"Xbox 360 has increased its sales after the model change, particularly in the UK. So far in 2010, PS3 has outperformed its 2009 sales and, quite recently, it has been leading the European market," Iwata said.

"When we make a year-on-year comparison, Wii showed a decrease and both Xbox 360 and PS3 showed increases, but the fact that Wii has been the best-selling home console hardware with the largest share has not changed."

The DS's position in Europe also came under scrutiny, with Iwata pointing out that, although rife piracy had undoubtedly affected software sales, illegal copying couldn't account for the total reduction - instead he identified a continuing increase in the astuteness of the DS's audience, tacitly admitting that some of the DS's previous software dominance had been down to market saturation and some naivety on the part of the consumer.

"The days when any Nintendo DS software could sell are over and consumers have become more selective," Iwata confessed, "and, as a result, the gap in the unit sales between hit titles and non-hit titles has expanded and, almost at the same time, illegal copies have spread across Europe. Also, after the 'Nintendogs' and 'Brain Training' software titles showed explosive sales there, we have been unable to offer another software title that European consumers really feel like purchasing."

This is what happens when you design what is essentially a kids toy that garners very little loyalty.

95% of people who bought a wii play it a couple of times a year and never buy any games for it.

It is no different to the popularity of the hula hoop in the mid 80's or the space hopper. Everyone wanted one and bought one, but in the end the general public got bored of them.

Nintendo needs to start releasing games that appeal to actual gamers rather than mums and small childrenï

@elvenearth

You are aware that you're coming across as deeply patronising aren't you?

I know that opinions are like arseholes etc but what qualifies you to try and educate this games journo? Which major publication do you work for? Or are you simply another arm-chair keyboard warrior whose condescending Internet delivery is there as a scant substitute for being a pub-bore that no one listens to anymore in real life?

Not that I'm saying critique is a bad thing (even on a free site) but your attempts here come across as trolling and self importance with slightly better grammar than average. At least if you typed 'YUO SUCK LOLZ' you'd have merely come across as a bellend rather than a deeply patronising, pseudo-intellectual e-critic.

@Eddwah

I'm aware that I am coming across as patronising to you certainly. You have made that very clear. As to others here I cannot speak for them. They are free to express their views without either you or I assuming for them.
For what's its worth, my apologies for coming across this way to you. I assure you there was no intent of such. My writing style is not some vainglorious attempt to exalt my own ego, but simply the way I write and express my ideas.
I am curious to know why you find it so objectionable. I notice that you resorted to ad hominem attacks to try and 'put me in my place'. It seems a bit rich to then, having done so, cast judgement on me as a pseudo-intellectual.

Anyway, I appreciate in some sense you being forthright in your views. I hope to take criticism where it is warranted and I'll do so now in that spirit. You are probably right that I could have been more considerate in my initial comment towards Robert. I'll seek to be more positive, more constructively critical in the future.

Your other points/attacks are speculative and without warrant. They suggest more about your own assumptions and biases. Mate, I suggest leaving that kind of approach by the wayside. But I guess we shall see...

@Teamallstar: Let me guess... You are an adult with too much time on your hands that owns a X360 and mostly plays shooters?

@elvinearth

My comments are as subjective as yours - I'm not dealing in absolutes. If I was it would be a bit rich as your attempts at 'bottom line' criticism is coming across as anything but subjective.

Be aware that I was being deliberately speculative as to the possible reasons for your 'opinion'. You may be a nice fella and a pillar of the Internet community but, in my opinion (I wasn't speaking for a silent majority as far as I'm aware - I didn't apply for the job of spokesman), there was an element (a large element) of unjustified feedback that I would consider (yes, me) uncalled for and certainly something the writer should take with a pinch of salt unless comments, positive or otherwise, were to come from his immediate manager.

Still, we'll have to agree to disagree. No offence was intended - although I'm sure you're not losing sleep over my post. If you thought my hypotheticals were actuals then I apologise.

@Eddwah

That's a fair response and I'm happy to thank you for it. All's well that ends well.

Hm, this article sums up the Briefing poorly.

Here you get all the real info:
[link url=http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/82589/highlights-from-nintendos-corporate-briefing/
]http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/82589...[/link]