Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has admitted that he’s thoroughly confused about Nintendo’s stock price drop after the Wii U was unveiled to the general public at E3 this week. There’s been a lot of speculation as to why the stock has dropped with Analyst Yusuke Tsunoda stating that the reason behind the drop was because Nintendo hadn’t announced anything that hadn’t already been leaked in the run up to E3. Anyone have any other ideas why Nintendo’s shares have fallen to a five year low?
“Honestly speaking, the reaction to (Tuesday’s) presentation and what I heard from people I met and the mood of the convention did not chime at all with what happened in the stock market,” Iwata said in an interview. “It’s very strange.
“In the end, it is easy to get the mistaken impression that this is just a game console with a tablet. People who came to the presentation and tried it out have understood very well that it opens up a lot of new possibilities. But people who have not tried it will find it hard to believe that this controller will change things.”
“Because we put so much emphasis on the controller, there appeared to be some misunderstandings,” Iwata told the Evening Standard. “We should have made more effort to explain how it works.”
– Nintendo president Satoru Iwata
They’ll show everyone when the console is released! Just like they did with the Wii. :)
They didn’t reveal enough, they needed to put something out there that was real rather than rely on tech demos.
I’d like to know… Is this the end of the Gamecube controller? For those games like SSB that use them?
Yes, the Wii U won’t support Gamecube games or Gamecube peripherals I’m afraid.
Well, it had a good run and outlasted its own system. So while it will be missed, it will never be forgotten.
With no port to use them, yes it is the end of the GameCube controller. As far as first party controllers are concerned, I’m sure the Classic Controller Pro should suffice.
Just another thing for me to buy. If it is compatible. Which I believe it will be.
sexually frustraited 82 writes: i love NINTENDO!!
I think their presentation of the console was sort of odd. They mainly focused on the controller and didn’t show the console (this confused a lot of people on how it worked), and they only had “experiences” and not real games.
It sort of makes me wonder why they revealed the console so early. Yes I know it comes out next year but they didn’t announce anything for it. I guess I am happy that the Wii remote is still one of the main controllers for the new console, at least that will save some money.
The shares dropped mostly because people that haven’t played it do not understand it.
Developers involved started talking, and the entire gaming press twisted Nintendo’s arm until they promised we could see what they’ve been working on.
Nintendo did considerably well, given the conditions.
I really think the reason why this has happend is because they have not fully showed us the specs of the console. But if they keep giving us wonderful news about it that should help. I’f you are wondering what I mean by wonderful news I am talking about how there going to use a ibm power 7 cord and a 25 gb disk and if they put in a R8000 series core they should be set for a long time. I also think that would help with investors aswell because they would feel that Nintendo is not going anywhere.
I’d say it’s a good time to invest.
Didn’t Nintendo stock also drop when they announced stuff like the DS, the Wii, and the 3DS?
It dropped I think because the conference was confusing and they only showed tech demos. They should have brought the controller and console on stage and showed ACTUAL gameplay. Maybe then more people would have understood the concept. As it is right now I have no interest in the system. Also it didn’t help that for some games they used PS3 and 360 game footage.
That’s just money they’ll be out of when the time comes that it’s already too late. Like those bigwigs need any more!!
PlayStation Vita will have the same price of 3DS, simple and clean: the Nintendo handheld console doesn’t have good sales now…
I think they are waiting on the Nintendo Press Conference that happens in (I think it’s July?). They are smart to break the news into little bits and pieces. Even if it pisses off the fans doing so builds hype and will snowball in the year to come. If I were invested in Nintendo I would be more concerned with the handheld market. I personally prefer the highly stylistic franchises that are associated with Nintendo to Sony or Microsoft but I’m thinking of getting a Vida vs. 3DS. The system is that much more impressive are there seems to be more games promised at launch for Vida than there are games for the 3DS a year after release.
The real issue today as to why the stock has dropped is because no one wants to fund the production of the new Wii U simply because they are positive that the cost of this system will prevent it from getting into every HH as the Wii did over the past 5 years. Grand Parents won’t pay for an expensive system that they feel is too complicated for them to understand also parents wont buy a system that they feel there 5 year old will break the controller and then they will have to spend 100 dollars to replace! But you will see clear as day once the system is about to roll out the stocks will be at an all time high because next year at E3 2012 when everyone is even more impressed they will finally be believers. This is America and in America Bussinessmen don’t like to gamble and take risks. When was the last time you’ve seen a billionaire build a skyscraper in america to compete for tallest building, also the same reason we outsource most of our labor its about getting richer without taking chance. GOTTA LOVE AMERICA!
I think the problem was they announced Luigi’s Mansion 2 and that was it. Everything we saw on the U consisted of unimpressive demos. Example in the video: putting the U controller on the floor and seeing the ball in the sand in golf. Honestly, just pull the camera back on the TV. Save me the trouble. Should have shown more useful things for it. And the Zelda in HD would have helped more if they didn’t also do a tech demo for the GCN and then completely ditch it altogether. Now people are just expecting it to NOT come out like that, and it’s what they want.
Thing is, they didn’t need to redesign the controller again anyway. The Wiimote could have just been refined a bit.
They should have been putting more effort into building a console that was clearly more powerful than the competition. The graphical tech demos they showed at E3 wouldn’t have even made a 360 or PS3 break a sweat. I know they’re early demos, but even so, 5 years on from the the release of the current generation of consoles they have no excuse for not being able to blow the competition out of the water.
Stocks are dropping because, whereas the Wii did revolutionize things (I believe it was the most important advance in the history of video games since the onset of 3D polygons) , this doesn’t really offer anything new. Everything you can do with the Wii-U controller, you could do by hooking it up to a 3DS. Apple will soon be releasing an OS update that allows users to play games in the same way with an I-pad and TV (using the Apple TV service), so this isn’t really offering anything too revolutionary.
The Wii appealed to a whole new audience because of it’s simplicity. This is more complicated, so it’s not as likely to appeal to the “new” gamers the Wii brought in. Your Grandma’s probably going to be happy enough with her old Wii.
On the flip-side, it’s also not going to appeal to the “hardcore” gamers as it’s still too gimmicky.That pad wouldn’t be much good for the likes of Battlefield or COD, for example.
…So, basically, rather than appealing to a bigger audience, it’s actually cuts it down. No wonder their shares are dropping!
Plus, currently the console can only support one new controller, and they’re not even planned to be available separately! So basically, if you break your one and only Wii-U controller, that’s it. Game Over.
I’m a huge Nintendo fan, but I’m actually pretty angry with how disappointing this is. It just seems to me like they rushed the E3 showing, and I think they’ve got their priorities wrong.