Nintendo: More Money Than Momentum?
Analysts ask, 'can it keep it up?' Real people snigger.
Once again SPOnG is forced to ask, "Did you know Nintendo is doing well for itself?" This time it's because its financial results from fiscal third quarter (October to December 2007) have more than doubled year-on-year. This has prompted the platform holder to raise its financial outlook.
It has also prompted an analyst close to the industry to say,"Well, d'uh!"
Nintendo itself only reported its results for the nine months to December, with operating profit having more than doubled over that period to 394 billion yen (£1.9 billion). However - according to calculation made on the back of Reuters' corporate fag packet - Nintendo's operating profit rose to 205.3 billion yen (£988 million) for October to December, compared to 100.5 billion yen (£484 million) in the same period the year before.
That's a raise of nearly 10% from the last estimate, which was 420 billion yen (£2.02 billion).
The upshot of this is that Nintendo has raised its profit expectations to a record 460 billion yen (£2.2 billion) for the full 2007/2008 fiscal year (ending March 31st this year).
The strong results didn't stop a senior fund manager at Norinchukin Zenkyoren Asset Management, Takeshi Osawa, from dishing out a slightly back-handed, compliment,"Solid results, but the market's attention is already on the year ahead", he said.±
Reuters also tells us, "Fund managers said Nintendo's solid performance is well known and is factored into its share price, and what interests them most is how the company will manage to keep its strong momentum going."
It was just revealed that the Wii has now topped the 5 million sales mark in Japan, putting its installed base there at 2.9 times the size of the PS3's and 9.6 times the size of the 360's.
However, there's clearly a bit of chatter along the lines of 'we don't think Nintendo will keep this up' going round analysts' offices. Can it? Give us your take in the Forum.
± Source: Reuters
It has also prompted an analyst close to the industry to say,"Well, d'uh!"
Nintendo itself only reported its results for the nine months to December, with operating profit having more than doubled over that period to 394 billion yen (£1.9 billion). However - according to calculation made on the back of Reuters' corporate fag packet - Nintendo's operating profit rose to 205.3 billion yen (£988 million) for October to December, compared to 100.5 billion yen (£484 million) in the same period the year before.
That's a raise of nearly 10% from the last estimate, which was 420 billion yen (£2.02 billion).
The upshot of this is that Nintendo has raised its profit expectations to a record 460 billion yen (£2.2 billion) for the full 2007/2008 fiscal year (ending March 31st this year).
The strong results didn't stop a senior fund manager at Norinchukin Zenkyoren Asset Management, Takeshi Osawa, from dishing out a slightly back-handed, compliment,"Solid results, but the market's attention is already on the year ahead", he said.±
Reuters also tells us, "Fund managers said Nintendo's solid performance is well known and is factored into its share price, and what interests them most is how the company will manage to keep its strong momentum going."
It was just revealed that the Wii has now topped the 5 million sales mark in Japan, putting its installed base there at 2.9 times the size of the PS3's and 9.6 times the size of the 360's.
However, there's clearly a bit of chatter along the lines of 'we don't think Nintendo will keep this up' going round analysts' offices. Can it? Give us your take in the Forum.
± Source: Reuters
Companies:
Nintendo
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Comments
deleted 24 Jan 2008 11:04
1/8
this makes me a little sad, a main fatcor of nintendo sales, for both ds and wii = price, ie being cheaper than the competition, also games come out cheaper too, but whats not so great is the wii`s graphical ability, o now i know it doesnt matter what it looks like if it plays good, but it makes me sad for next gen wii, because although i like my mazza, i want him running in full HD glory and competiting in poly count battles against the rest because if great game plays well its better if it looks great, and sadly i feel nintendos next gen system will just be a PS3/360 with motion controls once again as that makes them money, leaving hardcore gamers for the dust with other consoles, please nintendo give us the hardware as well as the software next time,
actionmonkey 24 Jan 2008 13:11
2/8
I don't think that Microsoft or Sony are going to be pushing the graphics side of things next time thanks to Nintendo.
The disparity in graphics this generation comes down to (as far as I'm concerned) Microsoft and Sony pushing HD when the market isn't actually ready for it. The overpricing speaks for itself - they both used HD as their main selling point, did it at a loss, and it backfired.
I think you can count on the PS4 being an updated ps3 with some sort of motion control thingy. The PS3 obviously being the new gamecube. Sony have already said that their business strategy is for this generation is 10 years, Both microsoft and Nintendo will be updating in the next 3-4.
The disparity in graphics this generation comes down to (as far as I'm concerned) Microsoft and Sony pushing HD when the market isn't actually ready for it. The overpricing speaks for itself - they both used HD as their main selling point, did it at a loss, and it backfired.
I think you can count on the PS4 being an updated ps3 with some sort of motion control thingy. The PS3 obviously being the new gamecube. Sony have already said that their business strategy is for this generation is 10 years, Both microsoft and Nintendo will be updating in the next 3-4.
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Daemon 24 Jan 2008 14:12
3/8
actionmonkey wrote:
Both microsoft and Nintendo will be updating in the next 3-4.
Actually, I wouldn't be too surprised to see Nintendo holding out a little longer than that, what with the Wii doing a fair bit better than expected.
deleted 24 Jan 2008 14:36
4/8
Daemon wrote:
actionmonkey wrote:
Both microsoft and Nintendo will be updating in the next 3-4.
Actually, I wouldn't be too surprised to see Nintendo holding out a little longer than that, what with the Wii doing a fair bit better than expected.
well the DS lifespan is coming on now, and no plans for a new one, why fix somehting that isnt broke eh.
PreciousRoi 24 Jan 2008 15:20
5/8
...We shall see I suppose...
Closely related to the questions the fiscal boffins are asking are the ones gamers might pose...
If Nintendo does succeed in maintaining their momentum, how will they accomplish it?
With they continue to go it largely alone, relying on first-party titles?
Or will third-party developers, lured by the growing install base of the Wii, find it worth the investment required to produce more and better Wii-specific games?
Or is the Wii actually fated to fade away, as the shine of the new wears off, to be ressurrected by Nintendo producing its HD successor?
Why can't they just be cool and let Rare release GoldenEye 007 over XBLA so everyone who cares to can play it, and discover that nostalgia lasts about 30 seconds before the suck sets in?
Closely related to the questions the fiscal boffins are asking are the ones gamers might pose...
If Nintendo does succeed in maintaining their momentum, how will they accomplish it?
With they continue to go it largely alone, relying on first-party titles?
Or will third-party developers, lured by the growing install base of the Wii, find it worth the investment required to produce more and better Wii-specific games?
Or is the Wii actually fated to fade away, as the shine of the new wears off, to be ressurrected by Nintendo producing its HD successor?
Why can't they just be cool and let Rare release GoldenEye 007 over XBLA so everyone who cares to can play it, and discover that nostalgia lasts about 30 seconds before the suck sets in?
OptimusP 24 Jan 2008 21:45
6/8
haritori wrote:
this makes me a little sad, a main fatcor of nintendo sales, for both ds and wii = price, ie being cheaper than the competition, also games come out cheaper too, but whats not so great is the wii`s graphical ability, o now i know it doesnt matter what it looks like if it plays good, but it makes me sad for next gen wii, because although i like my mazza, i want him running in full HD glory and competiting in poly count battles against the rest because if great game plays well its better if it looks great, and sadly i feel nintendos next gen system will just be a PS3/360 with motion controls once again as that makes them money, leaving hardcore gamers for the dust with other consoles, please nintendo give us the hardware as well as the software next time,
You would have been right if next-gen graphics haven't been such a dissapointment as a whole. because we all know that the world actually only exists out of 5000 shades of grey and brown...or that everything looks like plastic...or that everything reflects light like they're flexibel mirror-surfaces...no wait...reality doesn't look like that at all! So realistic next-gen graphics suck ass but almost everyone is too busy making generic looking realistic game X they forget something like a original artstyle. I like a good artstyle to look at a lot more important then how many shaders my character is made from.
Besides, MS and Sony next consoles will be 2-3 times as powerfull as their last ones anyway. People buy it anyway, saves them money and the difference between 2x more powerfull and 8x times more powerfull will be non-noticeable anyways this time. They need at last 16 to 24 times more power to create the same gap from this gen compared to last gen.
Daemon 25 Jan 2008 13:11
7/8
OptimusP wrote:
I like a good artstyle to look at a lot more important then how many shaders my character is made from.
I completely agree with that point, OptimusP. Once a machine technically reaches the point that it can support a good artstyle, the remainder comes down to the creativity of the team behind it. Additional graphical prowess won't save a lifeless look no matter much is available.
king skins 25 Jan 2008 13:55
8/8
OptimusP wrote:
They need at last 16 to 24 times more power to create the same gap from this gen compared to last gen.
I have to disagree with you there as your judging the next graphics leap based on the last generation transition. But the reason there wasn't such a huge jump in graphic fidelity this time was due to the switch in resolution from SD to HD and most of the increased processing powers, memory bandwidth and memory was taken up by the need to cater for the higher screen resolution.
As the next gen will still be catering from HD the graphic fidelity jump will be a bigger in the next transition than it was in the last transition.