Nintendo's Quarterly Profit Sinks Nearly 80 Percent

[cjrizzo]

In an article (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/28/news_6129939.html) posted this evening on GameSpot ("http://www.gamespot.com/), Nintendo posted quarterly earnings dropped 78.5 percent. Most of these losses are attributed to a light release schedule for the GBA and DS and fewer than 10 GC releases. Another factor in their quarterly loss of earnings has been attributed to the R&D costs for next-gen hardware and software.

There are some positive tidbits of information, with DS sales going strong and Pokemon Emerald in second-place for best selling title of 2005 in the US. Though Nintendo's losses are steep, they are still less than the losses experienced recently by Sony or Microsoft.

[Kyle Jones]

I'm really rooting for Nintendo right now. I'm really hoping they can hold on and not follow similar Sega fates in the next few years.

[Blue]

I'm really rooting for Nintendo right now. I'm really hoping they can hold on and not follow similar Sega fates in the next few years.

I actually think Nintendo as a third party developer would be fantastic and, ultimately, ideal. I realize Sega seems to have slipped away somewhat in terms of how many look towards their stuff - light release schedule, I suppose - but Mario Kart over Live? Beautiful.

[Mister Pie]

Ouch, 80% is quite a lot. To think that 10 years ago, the SNES was THE console to own.

[Hellstorm]

I actually think Nintendo as a third party developer would be fantastic and, ultimately, ideal. I realize Sega seems to have slipped away somewhat in terms of how many look towards their stuff - light release schedule, I suppose - but Mario Kart over Live? Beautiful.

How about Mario Kart over Nintendo Connect, as it's ment to be and will always be, let alone it'll be FREE, oh I forgot free is bad. Nintendo is not going to go third party and they have enough of a fanbase to sell their consoles even if it is only for their games.

You have to understand Nintendo's corporate mentality, they don't want to give away anything they don't have to. From fees they get from third-parties, to the design of a controller. Going third-party is completely counter to what Nintendo's core belief. You would be better off find a way to turn water into gasoline than convince Nintendo to go third-party.

[bobbler]

Nintendo could slip up like this for an entire generation and probably be okay -- their cash reserve is quite deep currently. Sega was doing badly for a long time before their demise as a console maker -- they constantly made poor decisions that hurt them. Nintendo's assets around nearing 10 billion and their cash reserve is ~7.5b... Sega had a fraction of that (less than half a billion when they left the console business). As far as I know, the more cash a company has on hand the easier time they have dealing with poor quarters/years, of course there are other factors, but the liquid assets are the most important when dealing with immediate changes.

Interest site (http://hoovers.com/free/tools/bcl/);

[Blue]

How about Mario Kart over Nintendo Connect, as it's ment to be and will always be, let alone it'll be FREE, oh I forgot free is bad. Nintendo is not going to go third party and they have enough of a fanbase to sell their consoles even if it is only for their games.

Why would it be free? When did they say it'd be free? Don't remember reading that, maybe I just overlooked it. I mean, they're going to charge to download their "classic games" or whatever, so it seems perfectly plausible they'd up and charge to let us play Mario Kart over the net. Appears more fanboy-wet-dream that they'd up and release it for a free online thing when they see the kind of money they could make off of it.

And I do recall saying "Free Is Bad." So thanks for the remind.

[NACIONAL]

Though Nintendo's losses are steep, they are still less than the losses experienced recently by Sony or Microsoft.

Microsoft's Game division I might add

[Kelegacy]

The death of Nintendo as a console manufacturer would be a crime to the videogame industry. What would we have then, MS and Sony, two corporate fuckwits competing for our dollar? It would be like having two G.W. Bush clones in the next election, one running for Democrat and one for Republican; we'd be fucked either way, but there isn't much difference between the two.

This is a 80 percent drop in PROFITS, so they still made money. I see no red ink for Nintendo. MS...they are just finally starting to break even.

[Selar]

Ok a few notes. First, both cjrizzo and Gamespot are guilty in their titles. Nintendo's profits did not sink 80%. They sunk to 80% of their previous quarter. Gamespot gets it right in their article:

"According to Reuters' Japanese service, Nintendo reported a 78.5 percent decline in operating profit for the quarter ending June 30, 2005. Its 13.72 billion yen ($123 million) in operating income was off 3.75 billion yen ($33.4 million) from the same period in 2004. While disappointing, the figures did slow the precipitous decline Nintendo reported in the January-March quarter, when its profit dropped 8.5 billion yen ($75.8 million). Overall, quarterly sales were off 14 percent, weighing in at 70.7 billion yen ($630.6 million)."


And this sentence:
"Though Nintendo's losses are steep, they are still less than the losses experienced recently by Sony or Microsoft."

is misleading. Nintendo did not lose money last quarter. It made less money. Whereas Sony and MS Home and Entertainment division actually lost money.

[bobbler]

Why would it be free? When did they say it'd be free? Don't remember reading that, maybe I just overlooked it. I mean, they're going to charge to download their "classic games" or whatever, so it seems perfectly plausible they'd up and charge to let us play Mario Kart over the net. Appears more fanboy-wet-dream that they'd up and release it for a free online thing when they see the kind of money they could make off of it.

And I do recall saying "Free Is Bad." So thanks for the remind.

They have said a few times (including at E3) that their online service will be free for their games and that third parties can choose to charge if they want to (for MMOs and that type of thing, I assume). There has even been a couple threads about it.

[Blue]

They have said a few times (including at E3) that their online service will be free for their games and that third parties can choose to charge if they want to (for MMOs and that type of thing, I assume). There has even been a couple threads about it.

Ah, superb then. Well - in light of that - you, ladies, will all bear witness to my blue sparks.

[eatme]

I was about to bitch, but Selar already 4tw!

Good thing we have the forums for greater accuracy in reporting than the actual news page. :)

[PotatoNinja]

Ok a few notes. First, both cjrizzo and Gamespot are guilty in their titles. Nintendo's profits did not sink 80%. They sunk to 80% of their previous quarter. Gamespot gets it right in their article:

"According to Reuters' Japanese service, Nintendo reported a 78.5 percent decline in operating profit for the quarter ending June 30, 2005. Its 13.72 billion yen ($123 million) in operating income was off 3.75 billion yen ($33.4 million) from the same period in 2004. While disappointing, the figures did slow the precipitous decline Nintendo reported in the January-March quarter, when its profit dropped 8.5 billion yen ($75.8 million). Overall, quarterly sales were off 14 percent, weighing in at 70.7 billion yen ($630.6 million)."


And this sentence:
"Though Nintendo's losses are steep, they are still less than the losses experienced recently by Sony or Microsoft."

is misleading. Nintendo did not lose money last quarter. It made less money. Whereas Sony and MS Home and Entertainment division actually lost money.


This is a Nintendo-related thread on Evil Avatar, your logic has no power here!

[Kefkataran]

Get the pitchforks!

Seems the outcry for Revolution is a bit hasty now, eh?

[Adam Blue]

They have said a few times...

They have said a lot. Really. It's sick.

Well, this post was a bit scary at first, but after finding out the truth I felt a bit of relief. I want Nintendo to do good. But they aren't treating me good.

[Kelegacy]

They have said a lot. Really. It's sick.

Well, this post was a bit scary at first, but after finding out the truth I felt a bit of relief. I want Nintendo to do good. But they aren't treating me good.

Agreed. I want them to soar back to the lofty heights that they once enjoyed. Of course, this time they have to watch out for the MS ceiling fan, but I think they'll do okay in the next round. Not outrageously good, because the youth of the world are now more interested in graphics and power than they are with gameplay. Plus, coming out later than the others cant do wonders for the machine...especially if it isnt as graphically capable.

A free online service would be excellent. Think of all the Nintendo games we've enjoyed over the years, cramed around 1 tv screen, split into fourths. Now imagine playing those same incredible games online. Nintendo is the perfect company for an online plan. They are late, but hopefully they'll compete with Live right out of the gate. I think they will. Nintendo is all about ease of use, and I think an online service from them would be excellent and easy for the Idiot Nation to comprehend.

I'm still leery about releasing late and less powerful (for the success of the console only...i dont care about extra firepower under the hood if the games are grea--which they undoubtedly will be) and also, will this late entry damn Nintendo into jumping out early next round, into the next-next generation? Or will it stay a forever dark horse, slinking up after the other guys are already counting their money and bitches?

[Everlost_MI]

I actually think Nintendo as a third party developer would be fantastic and, ultimately, ideal. I realize Sega seems to have slipped away somewhat in terms of how many look towards their stuff - light release schedule, I suppose - but Mario Kart over Live? Beautiful.


Didn't I read some time ago that someone in the upper ranks of Nintendo stating that if they ever got out of the hardware biz they would get out all together? Or was I eating paint chips again?

[NACIONAL]

Didn't I read some time ago that someone in the upper ranks of Nintendo stating that if they ever got out of the hardware biz they would get out all together? Or was I eating paint chips again?

I recall reading that thing too.... there is no possible way we could have eaten paint chips at the same time....

[Draft]

There's just no middle ground when it comes to Nintendo conversations here. You've got the doomsday crowd on one side, and the dick suckers on the other.

[FunkyPoopMonkey]

In summary:

Nintendo sucks because it turns in a small profit, as aposed to their previous big profits.

Sony and MS rock because they actually LOSE money each quarter.


I see how it works now...

[Kelegacy]

There's just no middle ground when it comes to Nintendo conversations here. You've got the doomsday crowd on one side, and the dick suckers on the other.

Hey man, sucking dick is an art. I dated this girl once who was a fucking Picasso.

[Draft]

No Nintendo rules because they innovate.

Buy Mario Party 6.

edit: shut up you never dated a girl.

[Kelegacy]

No Nintendo rules because they innovate.

Buy Mario Party 6.

edit: shut up you never dated a girl.

Haha, if you only knew. Intelligence and enthusiasm in videogames doesn't equal sexual retardation. Well, maybe for some.

[Mister Pie]

What's a girl?

[Zeal]

It'll be cool when Nintendo leaves the console business.

[TrackZero]

There are some positive tidbits of information, with DS sales going strong and Pokemon Emerald in second-place for best selling title of 2005 in the US. Though Nintendo's losses are steep, they are still less than the losses experienced recently by Sony or Microsoft.

So, essentially everyone's spending money on their next-gen consoles. Nothing to worry about then.

[Heretic Machine]

In summary:

Nintendo sucks because it turns in a small profit, as aposed to their previous big profits.

Sony and MS rock because they actually LOSE money each quarter.


I see how it works now...

In summary:

Nintendo sucks because it turns in a small amount of game releases, as aposed to their previous large number of releases.

Sony and MS rock because they actually make games each quarter.


I see how it works now...

FIXED

[Lon Lon Rabbit]

What's a girl?


I could be wrong here, but I believe it's some kind of old, wooden ship.

[Blue]

Hey man, sucking dick is an art. I dated this girl once who was a fucking Picasso.

You do realize that means she would have been all over the map and said dick would have ended up square on your forehead (and by square I literally mean square) or, at the very least, not even attached to your body. No wonder you're gay.

[Squigly]

The death of Nintendo as a console manufacturer would be a crime to the videogame industry. What would we have then, MS and Sony, two corporate fuckwits competing for our dollar? It would be like having two G.W. Bush clones in the next election, one running for Democrat and one for Republican; we'd be fucked either way, but there isn't much difference between the two.

Beautiful, just beautiful. Can I use this as a sig as long as I quote you?

[Zeal]

Hey man, sucking dick is an art. I dated this girl once who was a fucking Picasso.

Isn't this the part where some random kid comes in and says "NIGGA I EAT PUSSY ALL NIGHTT LOLL!!!11 BYTCH".

[Squigly]

Isn't this the part where some random kid comes in and says "NIGGA I EAT PUSSY ALL NIGHTT LOLL!!!11 BYTCH".

LOL! I love your grammar and spelling! It's perfect. Just like one of those kids. :D

[jacktion]

Another lying post on Evilavatar. I would be disappointed but it is all too common.

Nintendo did not post a loss. They made a profit this quarter. It is just a smaller profit than the one they made last year.

Sony lost hundreds of millions of dollars this quarter.

The Xbox lost hundreds of millions of dollars this quarter.

capeche?

[fushi]

Goodbye Nintendo. You have been drowned by sensationalist media :(

[Kefkataran]

In summary:

Nintendo sucks because it turns in a small amount of game releases, as aposed to their previous large number of releases.

Sony and MS rock because they actually make games each quarter.


I see how it works now...

FIXED

So... quantity over quality?

[Morratut]

No Kefkataran,some games at all would be nice. That argument is silly because you have good quality titles on both the PS2 and Xbox and have a nice regular release schedule.

Last game i played on GC was RE4. The next game will be the new Zelda.

For me buying a console only for mainly Nintendo titles isn't good enough. A lot of people feel the same. I would only buy a Revolution if it doesn't suffer from N64GCitis. My N64 was a GoldenEye machine. My GC is a RE machine. It's not good enough.

[Eon]

So... quantity over quality?

See THIS dollar here? This one? It's a QUALITY dollar, it's worth 100 of your shitty non innovative dollars!

Sony's lousy financial results have got nothing at all to do with their games business, which MAKES money, I believe. It's their other electrical sectors.

[Opty]

Sony's lousy financial results have got nothing at all to do with their games business, which MAKES money, I believe. It's their other electrical sectors.
It says, in the last paragraph of the article, that Sony Computer Entertainment lost 5.9 billion yen ($52.6 million), and since Sony Computer Entertainment is the video game branch of Sony, one could say their games business LOST money.

[Eon]

Indeed. My bad. :(

[bapenguin]

Another lying post on Evilavatar. I would be disappointed but it is all too common.

Nintendo did not post a loss. They made a profit this quarter. It is just a smaller profit than the one they made last year.

Sony lost hundreds of millions of dollars this quarter.

The Xbox lost hundreds of millions of dollars this quarter.

capeche?

The post didn't say the posted a loss. Capeche?

Nintendo still ain't going anywhere....

[monkey13]

Hey man, sucking dick is an art. I dated this girl once who was a fucking Picasso.

She was a Picasso? Did she have two eyes on the side of her head and a nose on the top? That might explain a lot.

[Roc Ingersol]

It would be like having two G.W. Bush clones in the next election, one running for Democrat and one for Republican; we'd be fucked either way, but there isn't much difference between the two.
You say that as if we didn't just vote on it...

[Goronmon]

The post didn't say the posted a loss. Capeche?
Nintendo still ain't going anywhere....
Maybe I am reading this wrong but...
In an article posted this evening on GameSpot, Nintendo posted quarterly losses of 78.5 percent. Most of these losses are attributed to a light release schedule for the GBA and DS and fewer than 10 GC releases. Another factor in their quarterly loss has been attributed to the R&D costs for next-gen hardware and software.

There are some positive tidbits of information, with DS sales going strong and Pokemon Emerald in second-place for best selling title of 2005 in the US. Though Nintendo's losses are steep, they are still less than the losses experienced recently by Sony or Microsoft.
I may be way off, but the post says Nintendo posted a loss four times, not zero times.

So, basically, in summary of this post.

Nintendo + still large amount of profit = good

PS and XBox + losses = bad

Nintendo + lack of titles = bad

PS and XBox + plenty of new titles = good

[51|RandoM]

r&d phase for revolution. All money going out,none coming in on that type of project.

no worries, nintendo has deep pockets.

[bapenguin]

Maybe I am reading this wrong but...

I may be way off, but the post says Nintendo posted a loss four times, not zero times.

Not anymore. :)

[Neverborne]

So, I'm walking around without my pants on, right? And this guy walks up to me and says, "Hey, where are your pants?" And I'm like, "Sppff...I just came from Nintendo's House, and, Goddamnit, I had a lot of fun."

Interperet as you will.

[TrackZero]

I love when things like this are posted to Slashdot, and my idle fascination makes me look at the comments only to find a bunch of misinformed long-drawnout arguments of the industry. Which, I really wouldn't care, but I hate having friends and coworkers come up to me later and say "I heard Nintendo is bankrupt." and I have to spend the next 10 minutes setting them straight, it really "grinds my gears". ;)

[Jacob Singer]

Yeah, that Pokemon Emerald sure is "innovative".

[TrackZero]

Yeah, that Pokemon Emerald sure is "innovative".

Yeah, because god forbid every-last-little-fucking-thing you release has to be "innovative" or someone will shit on your for it. Let it drop.

[Jacob Singer]

I just get tired of the fanboy cries of "Innovative" every time Nintendo is discussed, as if they're just breaking the damn mold on every game they produce. They create some excellent games, absolutely, but I don't find them any more "innovative" than any other major developer.

And I think it's completely fair to point out that their best-selling games are things like Pokemon Emerald.

[TrackZero]

I just get tired of the fanboy cries of "Innovative" every time Nintendo is discussed, as if they're just breaking the damn mold on every game they produce. They create some excellent games, absolutely, but I don't find them any more "innovative" than any other major developer.

And I think it's completely fair to point out that their best-selling games are things like Pokemon Emerald.

It is fair to point that out. That's a cash-cow, but it's hardly the title (m)any of us are thinking of when we use the "innovative" term. Personally, I don't refer to innovation with regards to a large selection of their hardware/software. We only really saw this term spring up with the advent of the DS, which is where it's most applicable. Also since the announcement of the revolution, it's become the fanboy motto.

With the GBA and the Gamecube, it's simply the gameplay and brands that I enjoy. If they come out with something neat every once in a while, good on them. To me Nintendo's a company I can generally trust to provide me a fun game experience, that's all. It's not like I don't own a variety of other systems as well.

Anyways, I'm starting to ramble here. Essentially I find the "innovation" term to be overused, but still largely applicable to Nintendo (and PC gaming), because Sony and Microsoft seem to worry more about the hardware than their games, which are generally generic titles with new graphics (I said, generally, there are many exceptions). It's really just a perception thing.

I just realized, am I allowed to say "generally generic"? Is that some kind of grammar faux-pas? Ah well.

[Jacob Singer]

Well said, TZ.

[Phades]

The death of Nintendo as a console manufacturer would be a crime to the videogame industry. What would we have then, MS and Sony, two corporate fuckwits competing for our dollar? It would be like having two G.W. Bush clones in the next election, one running for Democrat and one for Republican; we'd be fucked either way, but there isn't much difference between the two.

This is a 80 percent drop in PROFITS, so they still made money. I see no red ink for Nintendo. MS...they are just finally starting to break even.

:rolleyes: Because Nintendo IS NOT a corporate entity competing for our dollar? I understand your confusion on this since many of their recent decisions seem to indicate that they're not interested in being competitive. Trust me though, they really mean to be.

As for your analogy, that's already happened. You really think there's a difference? The dem's will screw us just as fast and hard as the Republicans have been.

[IndependentGMR]

Welcome to the real world.

[mister_slim]

Sony and MS rock because they actually make games each quarter.

How many Xbox games is MS releasing in 2005? 3?

For me buying a console only for mainly Nintendo titles isn't good enough. A lot of people feel the same. I would only buy a Revolution if it doesn't suffer from N64GCitis. My N64 was a GoldenEye machine. My GC is a RE machine. It's not good enough.
Then just buy an Xbox for Rare or a PS2 for RE4. RE5 is announced for PS3 and 360. If you don't feel the $100 expense for Nintendo games is acceptable, don't buy their hardware.

[Hellstorm]

Actually MS is releasing a whopping ZERO games for the xbox. Conker was the LAST MS first party game to be released. Also on a side note, Xbox system production shuts down in the second week of August.

[Twigz'N'Berries]

It says, in the last paragraph of the article, that Sony Computer Entertainment lost 5.9 billion yen ($52.6 million), and since Sony Computer Entertainment is the video game branch of Sony, one could say their games business LOST money.

Umm someone could say that...someone would also be wrong. The videogames sector of SCE profitted....well. Their LCD's tanked, the pictures division lost money...etc. Check out page four of their fiscal report on ttp://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/

However, I wouldn't mind Sony suffering horrid losses, until they are reduce to selling "Silicon Chips". These chips would be made out of potatos and be the Sony brand of potato chips....of course they would lie about the content of said chips, but that is neither here nor there...