Video Game Meltdown Continues: It's Nintendo's Turn!
EDIT: Screwed up my Sega analysis
At first, it was Capcom with their laundry list of idiotic decisions, but at least they aren't losing tons of cash (to my knowledge). But Nintendo, well...things aren't looking so good for them. Found this stuff out from Kotaku and the Nonstop Gaming Board on GFAQs.
Remember back in March there was this "Wii/3DS: It Prints Money!" meme? Well, congrats guys, the exact opposite has happened.
In the past three months (worldwide), Wii and DS sales have dropped about 50%. Also in that time, the 3DS only sold 710,0000 units.
Nintendo's stock has dropped 20% (that's TWENTY PERCENT) in ONE DAY. They also posted a $324 million quarterly LOSS.
Former Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi's wealth may have plunged more than $300 million today after the flop of the 3DS player forced the company to slash its profit forecast.
Satoru Iwata (Nintendo CEO) has taken a 50% pay cut and other execs have taken a 30% cut.
The 3DS price has dropped from $250 to $170, a 32% decrease. Anyone who bought the 3DS before this price drop is entitled to 20 (that's TWENTY) free downloadable games for the device. At this point in time, Nintendo is simply abandoning the 3D gimmick and going for DLC (games from NES, GBA, etc.).
There's a litany of problems with the 3DS. The 3D aspect has worn thin (and made some people sick as well). Not enough unique games. Expensive. Low battery life. In direct competition with the regular DS and other handheld/mobile games. Also, you can't play some games without a patch (see Ridge Racer). EDIT: And check out this dude's link about Nintendo tracking your information among other things...pretty shady stuff, thanks Mr. Anonymous.
Also, throw in there that the Wii hasn't received many good titles recently, both first, second, third party. Nintendo has abandoned that too in favor of the Wii U. So basically, Nintendo better pray that the Wii U doesn't suck too or else they're in serious trouble.
I know I'm reporting facts instead of ideas again, but you should never forget about this. This is history in the making.
You know this is going to shake up Nintendo big-time. It's probably their biggest down-time since 2000 when they were hurrying to release the Gamecube. There's a tradition is Japan that if a company man makes a poor decision, he's not outright fired but forced to step down for a period of time. Like putting someone in the dog house. Hey, it happened to Gunpei Yokoi (Virtual Boy, the biggest bomb ever) and possibly Yu Suzuki (Shenmue didn't sell so Sega basically stopped him from making any more games). Now someone at Nintendo's gonna get punished for this. Who, I don't know. Nintendo just shot themselves in the foot.
Hey Nintendo, sell the Seattle Mariners to make some money. Besides, the Mariners are sucking right now (they recently snapped a 17-losing streak) so who cares, lol.
But really, this proves the point I've been saying for years. You know what we want first and foremost? GOOD GAMES!!! Gimmicks won't cut it for me. You can say, "Oh look, we made a 3D game!" but if the game sucks, no one cares. Nintendo, learn this.
The Sega fan inside of me can't help but be a little bit jovial that Nintendo is getting jacked up over this. I mean, Sega got roasted when it come to the Dreamcast--great console but Sega's soul was lost in the process. Now Nintendo got a little arrogant here and thought "Hell, anything we produce is gold," and now they're paying the price for it. Of course, the Japanese quake in March may have helped contribute to their hit, perhaps. It just sucks ass that Microsoft is pushing this gimmicky Kinect crap and they have yet to take a major hit for it. Oh their day of reckoning will come soon...
But otherwise, this sucks for Japanese gaming. It's almost like Keiji Inafune put a curse on Japan in order to look like some sort of Nostradamus of gaming. Now think about this--all Japanese game publishers as of late have done some stupid things recently (Nintendo, Capcom) or were already mediocre (Namco, Square, maybe Konami). But I wouldn't be too worried about these companies--they'll hopefully learn from their mistakes. The PS3 had a slow start, maybe the 3DS will follow suit. EDIT: Or it could go the way of the N-Gage and PSP UMD's!!
But I'll tell you who's staying above the fray. SEGA. Yes, that's right. They are doing okay. Not producing any stellar games, but at least they're not "sucking" as usual. For instance, they posted the highest revenue in Japan for the month of June, beating out Nintendo by 33%. They also made an assload of money last fiscal year ($513 mil profit).
EDIT: Dammit, this came out a day after I posted this, Sega-Sammy posts a quarterly loss of up to $50 million. Well, this is embarassing. I only hope that in the long run, Sega has lost the least of all the other devs. I apologize, I was wrong. Well, that's why we have to step up and save Sega...
But anyway, if Sega suddenly does good....:
THE PIECES HAVE FALLEN INTO PLACE. NOW IS THE TIME FOR SEGA TO DROP THE HAMMER* AND OVERTAKE THESE OVERRATED GAME DEVS!!! BRING HOME THE GOLD MEDAL FROM THESE LOUSY AMERICAN DEVS LIKE ACTIVISION, ELECTRONIC ARTS, MICROSOFT, AND ROCKSTAR!!! IT CAN BE DONE!!!
* - When I say "Drop the hammer," I mean the racing term to slingshot ahead of the competition (change gears), don't know if people picked up on that right away...
Labels: 3DS, Activision, Capcom, Electronic Arts, Japan, Keiji Inafune, Lol Internet, Microsoft, MLB, Motion Controls, Nintendo, Sega, Wii
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/nintendo
I'll just leave this here, it's an interesting read. 3DS proves to be a pretty sneaky device.
Great blog, by the way, found it two days ago while googling for Daytona skins and I love it.
Eric4372 July 29, 2011 at 5:26 PM
Really? That's a pretty disturbing article. Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying my blog. I appreciate positive feedback very much. :)
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