Analyst Explains Nintendo's Tumbling Stock Price

[I forgot]

Don't people remember? Sony's stock fell sharply after the release of the PS2. It was ~150 on March 3rd, 2000 and fell to ~120 by March 10th, 2000, a 20% drop. Even though it sold well.

Difference is those stock number were based on initial sales after the first week of the PS2s release.

This drop in stocks for Nintendo is based off of a lot more:
No that much info about what the Wii U can ACTUALLY do. I mean the trailer is nice but trailers can be doctored to look better.

They're essentially announcing their next gen console 2 years before the competition. This gives MS and Sony 2 years to undercut the Wii U in prices heavily. Also Nintendo has said that the Wii U's graphical capabilities are almost on the same level as the 360 and PS3. Competing with the current gen on your next gen device isn't smart. It gives the competition time to make something much better.

3rd Party support is still a massive problem for Nintendo. 3rd Party companies just wound up losing money on the Wii and stopped making games for it. Why come back to the Wii U? They don;t even know how Nintendo will market this console...well sort of (next point explains)

Nintendo seems to think Better Graphics = Core gamers.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110866-Nintendo-Wii-Us-HD-Graphics-Will-Bridge-the-Casual-Core-Gap
Now any gamer knows that's asinine. Investors take that into account more than people think. Trust me. Remember the Internet Security Company CEO who got gurked by Anon? He had maxed out characters on WOW. If people like him play games, investors play games. Shiny graphics does not equal sales to core gamers. Sorry I'll play Half-Life 2 over Zelda HD any day of the week. Hell, I'm playing Thief 3 right now.

My overall point is that this is a completely different situation for Nintendo than it was for PS2 era Sony.

3rd party companies were losing money because they were making crappy games. Developers were wasting their time making wii sports clones and party games or developers were also refusing to develop bigger titles for the Wii because they were crying about how it didn't have enough horsepower. Graphics don't matter to core gamers but it does to developers for whatever pitiful reason which is why games that would've been fine on the wii made their way to less worthy consoles.
That bit about giving competition time to make something better isn't necessarily true either. The N64,GameCube and ps3 were all superior to their competitors in their hardware to undercut them but they also suffered the weaker sales. We all know software sells hardware so if anything you don't want to give competitors the time to have developers get acquainted with making software on their platforms. And I'll take Zelda over Half-life any day of the year.

 

[BabyRaptor]

So a bunch of suits didn't like it. How many of those suits would actually be interested in playing the thing when it comes out?

 

[Darkong]

I never understood claims like that. 'Nintendo's stock is the lowest it has been in five years!'

So what about five years ago? What happened then? What was Nintendo's lowest point before then? Why didn't anyone care then?

What makes this whole lowest stock in 5 years thing really dumb is that five years ago was before the Wiis release when everyone was claiming that Nintendo had lost it and would struggle to shift this underpowered (compared to its rivals) console with this untried control system. It just goes to show what a dumb reactionary thing the investment market is.

At the moment its just history repeating its-self, whether or not Nintendo will go on to have a similar level of success afterwards remains to be seen.

 

[Lanhavoc]

The Dreamcast was an awesome console and every consule nowadays has followed in its footsteps with online gaming. I find it funny that you are dimissing the console wihout knowing much about it. One thing I would already argue against you is that the Wii U will be in HD which is what most people I know complained up with the wii - those "hardcore" gamers.

I dont think you could be anymore anti-nintendo. The DS was an amazing handheld too and there are reams of games out there for "Hardcore" gamers too so I don't understand why you are so indifferent to Nintendo News.

Just for the record I have a Wii but play my Xbox and Pc far more regualrily so I can see why you may be pessimistic, but all Im saying is dont shoot the Wii U down before its released.

I agree the Dreamcast was awesome, by far my favorite console from the past. I actually own 2 of them.. one in mint condition sealed in it's box, and one I actually play still. My point still stands, the display on the controller was basically a gimmick. While I admit that can be improved on drastically, I will never prefer staring down at a smaller screen in my hand over a nice monitor or big television.

I'm pretty sure I could be more anti-Nintendo if I wanted to, instead I simply stated my indifference. Nintendo has the corner on the family/casual market, and I don't see them changing that with the upcoming Wii U. Adding HD, something that has been available on other consoles and PC for years, doesn't make it more "hardcore gamer" friendly. Mario in HD is still Mario. I'm not bashing Nintendo or their new console. If I ever have kids I'm sure I'll be purchasing one.