Nintendo Records First-Ever Full Year Loss in 2011

[Epona]

... The 3D is bland and reminiscent of old 3D pictures on cereal boxes (and it gives plenty of people a massive headache after a few hours)...

I'm not going to argue that that is objectively wrong since the sensation of 3D illusions is unique to each person.

However, in my extensive year + of 3DS playtime, I've found the 3D effect on the 3DS to be as "real" as any 3D HD TV or 3D cinema film I've ever seen, and it causes me no sensations of illness or discomfort at all as long as I actually adjust the slider to suit the specific game, since some games are more "intense" than others.


Additionally:

Why are people falling back on that lazy old "Nintendo abandoned their core audience!" talking point when the overwhelming majority of what they published for Wii, DS, and especially 3DS was directed toward the very demographic that was playing and enjoying Nintendo prior to their audience expansion campaign?

Like 3 Zelda games with gimmicky controls? You must be referring to Other M with it's motion controlled pixel hunt or maybe putting waggle into Mario games? Yes, that's EXACTLY what we wanted.

 

[shrekfan246]

Why are people falling back on that lazy old "Nintendo abandoned their core audience!" talking point when the overwhelming majority of what they published for Wii, DS, and especially 3DS was directed toward the very demographic that was playing and enjoying Nintendo prior to their audience expansion campaign?

Clearly someone hasn't seen the "Wii" wall at the local brick&mortar shop lately... the next time you go, check out how many poor third-party titles or just plain shovelware shlock there is on that system. The "overwhelming majority" is not Nintendo-developed, and the few third-party developers that did stick around for that system had a hell of a time trying to work with it.

Hell, the only decent third-party title I can really think of off the top of my head is No More Heroes, and lets be honest, that's a pretty niche title to begin with. Wait, okay, Xenogears/Last Story/Pandora's Tower, Monster Hunter Tri, and Sonic Colors.

And what are the Nintendo-developed titles that have been released in the last few years? Mario, Mario, Mario Kart, Metroid (okay, they outsourced Other M, which for how it turned out probably makes it even worse), Zelda, Zelda, Kirby, Kirby, Kid Icarus, Pokemon, Pokemon 2 (I can not stress how stupid Black and White 2 is), Donkey Kong, Zelda and Starfox direct ports of old games to a new system...

Shockingly, I actually quite like Nintendo. They're one of the few large companies in the industry who don't actively try to screw their customers. But to say nothing of the quality of their games, they simply refuse to move on. Kirby's Epic Yarn had no reason to be a Kirby game. In fact, if it weren't for Nintendo's meddling, it wouldn't have been. Nintendo is too caught up in its own franchises. Who the hell owns a 3DS and still remembers Kid Icarus? Mario Galaxy 2 had no reason to exist either, and even fans of the series say that Skyward Sword is bland and boring. Yeah, it's not really any different than what the other big companies are doing, but the difference is that comparatively, the 360/PS3/PC have a large number of third-party games that are decent, good, or even excellent to fill in the rest of the gaps. The Wii-U might help this particular issue if it really has better third-party support, but I'll take that with a grain of salt.

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

Clearly someone hasn't seen the "Wii" wall at the local brick&mortar shop lately... the next time you go, check out how many poor third-party titles or just plain shovelware shlock there is on that system. The "overwhelming majority" is not Nintendo-developed...

I wasn't arguing that 3rd parties didn't release shovelware cash-ins on the Wii, I was responding to the claim that NINTENDO "abandoned their core audience" with the Wii when in terms of what they actually published, about four "traditional" or "hardcore" games were released for every game aimed at the Wii Sports/Wii Fit grandmas and the casual newcomers.

(I can not stress how stupid Black and White 2 is)...

Why is it stupid? Is Nintendo not allowed to make a direct sequel to a game which was clearly written to have its story continued? Everything I've seen of Black/White 2 looks pretty fun to me.

Kirby's Epic Yarn had no reason to be a Kirby game. In fact, if it weren't for Nintendo's meddling, it wouldn't have been.

Nintendo meddling? With their own game? Yeah, sure.

Even if it early in DEVELOPMENT it wasn't initially imagined to be a Kirby game, is it really outrageously inappropriate for them to have made the decisions they made considering that Kirby had been depicted in the exact style used in Epic Yarn as early as the NES days, as seen in this commercial? http://youtu.be/D-8db508yrE

I don't even own or plan to own Kibry's Epic Yarn, so I really don't have a dog in this fight, just something I'd like to point out.

Who the hell owns a 3DS and still remembers Kid Icarus?

Who the hell owns a 3DS or Wii and remembers the original launch of Super Mario Bros on the NES? Surely a rather small minority compared to the number of people who buy Mario games on those systems today.

That being said, gamers had been BEGGING Nintendo to bring back Kid Icarus for YEARS prior to the announcement of Uprising, so why should Nintendo actually listening to their fans count as a strike AGAINST them one of the few times they directly respond to their customers like this?

Mario Galaxy 2 had no reason to exist either,

I guess being generally considered a fun, well crafted game that brings millions of gamers enjoyment isn't enough reason for a game to exist anymore.

even fans of the series say that Skyward Sword is bland and boring.

Zelda fans love/hate/despise/argue over specific Zelda games in the same way console fans will flame each other over which console is better. The fact that some Zelda fans didn't like Skyward Sword doesn't prove that it's a bad game or shouldn't have been made.

 

[Danzavare]

I'm really skeptical about the Wii U. I haven't followed it closely, but from the looks of it it's a Wii with a tablet attached to it. Intuitively I want to argue that this seems like an arbitrary development considering we have that kind of touch screen gaming already available to us. Then again, people are still buying a new iphone two to three times a year. I may not understand it, but businesses are making money off it.

I don't think we can draw any big conclusions from their loss but I kind of hope that they fall into further losses. Not out of spite but because my Wii is dusty. I bought it for a few good exclusives (gamecube titles too) and haven't got much out of it beyond them. With so little games that I can thoroughly engage with and enjoy the Wii doesn't feel like it was worth the money I spent to buy it (That and its weird control scheme proved to be more of a hindrance in a lot of games than a benefit). I certainly won't be buying the Wii U because of my negative experience with the Wii. Personally, I'd prefer it if they went the way of Sega, releasing games for other consoles rather than having their own, which is a change that I think can only come about if home consoles prove financially unfriendly to them.

I see no reason why they shouldn't continue handheld console making... well aside from the fact that the 3DS makes me dizzy (Which 3D TVs and films oddly do not)

 

[Terramax]

Go figure the soccer moms and nursing home crowd grew bored of the Wii while the 3DS library was a whole load of stuff we've already played. Maybe Nintendo needs to scrap the gimmicks and start making games for gamers again

Pretty much this. Whilst I've just bought a 3DS, I'm struggling to find a single game worth buying. It's just the same thing, over and over.

Nintendo consistantly rely on their masco and old franchises to keep them above water, but their golden goose may not be able to keep laying the golden eggs forever.

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

Sometimes I feel like people buy Nintendo systems, overlook anything that's not a major first or second party Nintendo staple, and then complain that the game selection and third party support are poor.

 

[zefiris]

Animal crossing, Kid Icarus, Luigi's mansion 2, Mario kart 7, Super Mario 3D land. And thats only on there handheld.
Not to mention the Wii U which we can assume is coming out this year or next and if the rumors are right it will have PIKMIN 3!!! And an HD mario game.
Oh and there still making games for the wii. They've released Xenoblades for the American audience which will certainly appreciate that, and they released Skyward sword for the wii to.

That's a pitifully low amount of games, though.

Look, I have a japanese 3DS with a couple games, but fact is, the current game library for the 3DS is beyond terrible. The company is hurting badly right now because of this.

This is what killed Sega, you know?

[Arguments that Nintendo should stop releading "kiddy" games]

No, wrong. They should release more "kiddy" games. Like games on the level of SNES games. Mario is a kiddy game, technically, and so is Zelda. MORE such games need to be released. Nintendo should NOT go and copy the lifeless western AAA-crap about boring bulky dudes being moody and shooting things.

This isn't a "casual vs hardcore" issue, and the whole "casual vs hardcore" thing is dumb.

Sometimes I feel like people buy Nintendo systems, overlook anything that's not a major first or second party Nintendo staple, and then complain that the game selection and third party support are poor.

That's you being ridiculous. Nobody does this. I, for example, own several 3DS games you will never have heard of, and that you will never be able to play. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btAd5Rbs14A for example - adorable little game

I still point out that there's a lack of games. That is because it is true.

A company you like getting criticized isn't an evil conspiracy, and people aren't cruelly overlooking things. The company is simply sucking at their job.

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

I personally don't believe the 3DS has "a lack of games".

Below is a list of games I own or would personally recommend. I own many of the released games, but probably won't end up getting all of them simply because I don't need that much entertainment.


released:
Pilotwings Resort
Rayman 3D
Ocarina of Time 3D
Kid Icarus: Uprising
Resident Evil: Revalations
Mighty Switch Force
Super Mario 3D Land
Mario Kart 7
Ketzal?s Corridors
Sonic Generations
Pushmo
Tetris Axis
Pokémon Rumble Blast
Bit.Trip Saga
Dillon?s Rolling Western
Sakura Samurai
Rabbids: Travel in Time 3D
Freakyforms
Mutant Mudds
The Virtual Console and 3D Classics in general


unreleased:
Rayman Origins
Fire Emblem
Animal Crossing
Paper Mario
New Super Mario Bros. 2
Rune Factory
Luigi?s Mansion 2
Bravely Default
Mario Tennis Open


Many more games I'm interested in than most systems owned, Nintendo or otherwise, have had in just over a year into their lifepsans.

The 3DS outsold the DS's first year on the market and even beat the Wii's first 9 months on the market.

I'm interesting in hearing what your conception of a "decent" library for the 3DS would be, because they're already more games on it that I'd like to play than I have the time for, more so than any other system I've owned from day 1.

 

[Lugbzurg]

Why are people falling back on that lazy old "Nintendo abandoned their core audience!" talking point when the overwhelming majority of what they published for Wii, DS, and especially 3DS was directed toward the very demographic that was playing and enjoying Nintendo prior to their audience expansion campaign?

You're... kidding, right? You honestly haven't seen how they're trying to cater to an audience that was never even interested in them in the first place? Or how several of their IPs are getting more and more shallow and/or easy? Take Mario, for example. Remember Super Mario World? Now, what do we have? New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Remember Super Metroid and Metroid Prime? Now, we have Metroid: Other M. Probably the most blatantly-obvious example of Nintendo publishing a game that blends into the the cookie-cutter genes of the western crowd.

Oh, yeah, you also can't die in Kirby's Epic Yarn. Just sayin'.

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

Why are people falling back on that lazy old "Nintendo abandoned their core audience!" talking point when the overwhelming majority of what they published for Wii, DS, and especially 3DS was directed toward the very demographic that was playing and enjoying Nintendo prior to their audience expansion campaign?

You're... kidding, right? You honestly haven't seen how they're trying to cater to an audience that was never even interested in them in the first place? Or how several of their IPs are getting more and more shallow and/or easy? Take Mario, for example. Remember Super Mario World? Now, what do we have? New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Remember Super Metroid and Metroid Prime? Now, we have Metroid: Other M. Probably the most blatantly-obvious example of Nintendo publishing a game that blends into the the cookie-cutter genes of the western crowd.

Oh, yeah, you also can't die in Kirby's Epic Yarn. Just sayin'.

I really don't see how New Super Mario Bros. Wii is any less "hardcore" than Super Mario World. In fact, when New Super Mario Bros Wii came out, many mainstream professional impressions I saw hailed it as the the return of "Nintendo-hard". Heck, they even brought back elements like making you wait till fortresses to save the game properly.

Metroid: Other M, which I consider a huge disappointment, was probably a direct over-reaction to the complaints that Wii only catered to novices who played colorful, E rated games. In fact from the moment it was first announced at E3, it was described as "edgy" by Nintendo, and revealed only minutes in the E3 presentation after the president of NOA talked about how he was "reading the blogs" and responding directly to those criticisms. This is the only case I can think of Nintendo allowing a game to be explicitly "westernized" (by a Japanese developer at that) in response to declining sales of the series in general, and it blew up in their face so severely I doubt they'd ever toy with the idea again.


As for Kirby's Epic Yarn,

Really?

You're criticizing a game that's explicitly aimed at children 10 and under with graphics resembling a grammar school arts and crafts project as "too easy"?

Need I remind you that the starting point for the entire Kirby concept was to create a novice-friendly platformer that even small children could beat with minimal difficulty?

The hardest Kirby game I ever played was Canvas Curse towards the end.

Aside from that, I thought the challenge in Epic Yarn was to be in collecting the beads without losing them by taking hits, not merely to clear the stages.


If you actually compared the list of Nintendo published Wii games that would have likely been made regardless of the casual expansion with the Mii games and brain games, you'd see that the great majority of what Nintendo put out was catering go the exact same demographic that purchased and enjoyed N64 and Gamecube.

 

[Nazulu]

I grew up with Nintendo, and I gotta say, they just don't make em like they used to.

They can't make 'em like they used too. Nintendo needs another team of geniuses and not to focus on making everything extremely casual.

Also, to work with the Gamecube controller, the best controller.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

I have a lot of sympathy for Nintendo, especially considering all of the disasters that occurred in Japan last year. I am willing to bet Eastern market sales were hurt pretty bad by that.

I don't like Nintendo's current set up of games. I hate almost everything on the Wii and most of the good 3DS games are simply ports from consoles of yester-year. But Nintendo has tried to innovate gaming with every new system they have released since the DS. That's more than most companies can say. Some experiments can be costly and may not work. Nintendo is feeling that now.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Wow, so it seems that constantly releasing the same games over and over and over again DOESN'T WORK once your consumers are old enough to realise what's going on.


GG Nintendo, thanks for Rareware-era N64 gaming.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

Not surprised. The Wii is a total joke at this point, so the sales from that are likely dragging the bottom.

The 3DS is gimmicky and doesn't have enough good games yet. Not surprised by slow sales of that either. Plus other mobile devices are stealing much of the market that Nintendo used to have a monopoly on. Why would I buy a 3DS when I could get an iPad or something for a bit more, but it does SO MUCH more than a dedicated gaming device?

I think the days of the dedicated gaming handheld are pretty much over. That's a large part of why Nintendo has been so successful the last 15 years or so.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

They made a fortune with the Wii so its not like they are bankrupt.

 

[DRTJR]

In their defense, Japan did have a earthquake, nuclear meltdown, and other disasters that shrank into their Japanese consumers' disposable incomes. that tends to hurt your bottom line. and for those complaining about lack of new games, this happens at the end of one cycle before the dawn of the next. is it sad, yes; is it with out cause no.

 

[Freechoice]

So THIS is why Movie Bob is so upset!

This is a cookie [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Choco_chip_cookie.jpg]

Please take it.

 

[RedTNT]

Nintendo are usually either flying high or plumbing the depths. This usually goes round in four-five year cycles. Example: 2002-2006, Gamecube struggling against other consoles, not selling as many games. 2007: Wii, most in demand console for two Christmas' running, high sales.

I fear Nintendo is getting to the end of another good cycle and is now entering another bad four-five year spell.

I don't have high hopes for the Wii U, when it was unveiled, stocks in the company plummeted.

That said though, the 3DS is a good console, I think it just suffered from a poor set of launch title games and was slightly overpriced for the launch. A six month delay in bringing it out and a stronger set of games, like Mario 3D Land would have made a big difference. They also would have benefitted from Christmas period sales.

They do bring out some good games, but I wish they would stop with the re-releases.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Nintendo has no gam....es?
Animal crossing, Kid Icarus, Luigi's mansion 2, Mario kart 7, Super Mario 3D land. And thats only on there handheld.
Not to mention the Wii U which we can assume is coming out this year or next and if the rumors are right it will have PIKMIN 3!!! And an HD mario game.
Oh and there still making games for the wii. They've released Xenoblades for the American audience which will certainly appreciate that, and they released Skyward sword for the wii to. It might not seem like there pushing the wii to hard but they have another console and another in the oven.
Nintendo reached out to the Hard core fans becuase they knew they couldn't beat Microsoft and Sony or at least didn't want to play that game. Instead of being hurt by that you can aknowladge that fact that Nintendo was trying to gain new coustomers. There probabally the only AAA company that is still freindly to those who've stucked with them. When the 3D's got a price cut they actually gave free stuff to those who bought before the cut. Did they have to do that? Nope. They did it cause nintendo cares.
Look I just want people to get that Nintendo isn't going anywhere and that just becuase there 3rd parties suck, most of there games are top notched. Sure they make a lot of Mario games but most of there Mario games are fun. (3D land was pure Joy)

Kid Icarus=Reboot made because of appearance in Smash Bros.
Luigi's Mansion 2=Sequel to a console game made on a handheld.
Mario Kart 7=Another sequel with little change.
Super Mario 3D Land= More of the same.

Now on to your other points.
The Wii U was a PR disaster when it was announced. Nintendo stocks dropped 2 days afterwards. And to be honest, Pikmin is a niche title. Pikmin 3 seems waaaaay too late to make an impact. And to Mario HD, at this point who cares?

No they didn't have to give people free games for buying the 3DS before the price cut, but really they shouldn't have charged as much as a PS3 for a handheld with no games just because of a gimmick. A gimmick that people hate thanks to Hollywood. They should've had games on release. Don't make it out to be Nintendo "being nice" to customers. They tried to milk a gimmick and got caught so they sweetened the deal and knocked the price down by 30%. That's the only reason that the 3DS has sold more than the DS in the same time frame and we both know it.

Yes they're still making games for the Wii, but to be honest Xenoblades should've been release in NA when it came out in Japan, not 2 years after. Skyward Sword was a disappointment to a big chunk of Zelda fans do to it being a lot smaller in terms of scale than Twilight Princess.
What else was there for the past 2-3 years that really had people going "I want a Wii"? Nothing. It wasn't Red Steel 2, it wasn't the Conduit. We wanted Mother 3, we got Wii Play.We wanted a new console StarFox, we got Wii Music. Yup Nintendo really cares.

They treat certain franchises with a level of favoritism. Could they have put as much time and effort into the latest Kirby games as they did with the new Mario games? Yes, but they didn't. They also ruined Wario, let Team Ninja piss on Metroid, and have done nothing of substance with Star Fox since arguablt the Gamecube.And I know there are other franchises that have been ignored this generation that could've worked well.

No one's mad at Nintendo for not making hardcore games. We're mad because we honestly expected better from the guys who brought innovation to gaming. We wanted more than just good Mario and Zelda games, but that's all we got, and even thoses weren't as good as previous titles in either series. There's a standard that Nintendo held themselves up to, and they threw it away for the "casual market" which is business terms for "parents and grandmas and toddlers". And it worked until they realized that the casual market don't buy games like gamers do.

We aren't pissed because we're "hardcore". We're pissed because were gamers and the crap that Nintendo has been pulling this gen is unacceptable.