Slow GCN Sales and DS Price cuts affect the Big N's bottom line

[Lkr]

Slow GCN sales and DS price cuts affect the Big N's bottom line.

October 7, 2005 - Nintendo has cut its first-half operating profit forecast by one third due primarily to slow sales of GameCube hardware and software in North America. The company also said that recent price cuts for the Nintendo DS, as well as the cost of developing its next-generation console -- known so far as Revolution -- also affected earnings.

In August, Nintendo dropped the price of the DS from $149 to $129 in the US, and from €149 to €129 in Europe. The company is also preparing its Revolution project to launch next year, when it will join Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 as the new breed of gaming consoles.

Nintendo now expects to book a group operating profit of 20 billion yen for the six months ended September 30, compared to its prior estimate of 30 billion yen. The company dropped its first-half sales estimate to 175 billion yen, down 8 percent.

Due to fluctuations in the value of the dollar, however, Nintendo is revising its first-half net profit estimate to 36 billion yen instead of the previously forecast 19 billion yen.

Reuters quoted Nintendo senior managing director Yoshihiro Mori, who spoke at a news conference in Osaka. "The big drop for GameCube games was in North America," Mori said. "It looks like the [GameCube's] life is nearing its end."


Source: IGN. I also posted this in the NEWS Section, but I posted here so everyone could see before it makes homepage. Also, on the one I submitted for news, I forgot to put that the article was from IGN, so when a mod approves, please add the source.

Thanks

[ShadowMarth]

Well, I'm suprised. I just hope they can pull out of this before their games head the way that Microsoft and Sony's game departments are. Sadly, nintendo has nothing to fall back on.

[Lkr]

well, as we all know, the gamecube flopped here in the US. I am playing the GCN more than anything right now. The GCN would be great, if people would look at it.

[P4NC4K3Z]

if the revolution fails then nintendo would lose ALOT more money...cause it seems they are betting alot of money on this project.

[Euan]

I love Nintendo's style and the way they do things - differently , of course - but the truth of the matter is, there's virtually no games on the Gamecube. That's not just a Sony fanboy opinion, it should be everyones.

Once you've got passed Metroid Prime 1+2, Zelda: WW, Resident Evil 4 and a couple of others like Mario Kart, your left with one replayable game in my opinion - Super Smash Brothers. That's only a few games for a system that's been around a few years.

Even if they release a load of gash and one good game every month, it would certainly look more impressive...

[bignds]

This doesnt realy surpise me. In their bid to make them selvs the "peoples company" theyve lost alot on profits.

[Lkr]

hmmm...Euan, I think we are mistaking, eh? I have so many GameCube games, and all of em pwn. O'Course I have some sports games, but the GCN can't get old, cause I can't beat the first level in Metroid Prime 2 =P

[Mr.Cool]

Well, the Gamecube as we all would know would come to this point. Only if it lasted a little bit longer they would be fine. Now it looks like Nintendo has to rely on there handheld sytems for now on, but since the Wi-Fi is coming soon I would hope the DS sales increase.

Originally Posted by Lkr721993

hmmm...Euan, I think we are mistaking, eh? I have so many GameCube games, and all of em pwn. O'Course I have some sports games, but the GCN can't get old, cause I can't beat the first level in Metroid Prime 2 =P

lkr has got it right this time

dude there are a ton of ownage games on the GCN, just like 3 or 4 exclusives are truly "mainstream" games, so you probably haven't heard of too many other sweet ones.

euan you should know this...

i have way more games for my GC than my xbox, and the good majority of them are much better than the xbox ones. if the GC has virtually no games, then xbox has 0, and PS2 has just a few. which, of course, is not true...

[Euan]

Can you give me some examples?

Really, I can't think of too many titles I have to own. Paper Mario was pretty good, I'll give you that. Ikaruga I would pick up if I could find, as well as Tales of Symphonia and Baten Kaitos. It's not hundreds of titles though - there's far more worthwhile games (not necessarily better, take note) on the PS2.