Nintendo president Satoru Iwata held a presentation yesterday revealing Nintendo’s 2011 financial results and shedding some light on Nintendo’s plans for 2012.
There is a motherlode of information to absorb in the five-page briefing, but the most important points can be found below.
First, the only bad news:
– Nintendo posted a fiscal loss of $455.9 million, the first time Nintendo has ever posted a fiscal loss in their 122-year history. Iwata attributed this loss to “the steep appreciation of the yen, significant price drop of the Nintendo 3DS in order to make the course correction and place it back on the originally expected sales track, and the failure to launch much-anticipated titles in a timely fashion in the first half of the term. Under these circumstances, we posted an operating loss for the full year, which was the worst result since we went into business in the video game industry. We feel greatly accountable for the result as executive officers.”
While the financial loss is alarming, it certainly doesn’t mean the end of Nintendo. Sony posts a loss every single year, yet they are still in business. After the financial report, Iwata revealed Nintendo’s plans for the upcoming year, talking about both the Wii U and the 3DS.
First, the Wii U:
– Wii U will be a big part of Nintendo’s E3 plans, as Nintendo will “showcase the final format and discuss the details and the software lineup for this year at E3 2012.” All of the technical specification and all of the launch titles will be presented at the show, however Iwata also said that the system’s release date and cost, “as [they] did for previous platforms that were launched in the year-end sales season, [they] will announce the launch date and price in each market sometime after E3.”
– Games on the Wii U will be available both in retail stores and on the system’s online marketplace from launch day on. Iwata remarked that Nintendo is taking this approach “so our consumers can choose either the packaged version or the digital download version of the same software from day one of the Wii U’s launch.”
Now, the 3DS:
– The 3DS will begin to sell at a profit instead of a loss in the first half of 2012, thus eliminating fear of another fiscal loss in 2012. Iwata explained that “in the first half of this fiscal term we will get out of the situation that we sell the hardware below cost. We anticipate the improvement of the product profitability of the hardware alone.”
– The recently announced New Super Mario Brothers 2, due in August of this year, will be the first 3DS game to be available both in store and on the 3DS’s online eShop. Iwata said that “starting from this software, the company will offer the software titles that Nintendo itself publishes in both packaged and digital download formats so that our consumers can choose the way to purchase them.”
Nothing but good news points here, but the one thing that really impresses is Nintendo’s aggressive stance on digital downloading. If Nintendo has finally figured out online gaming and shopping, they stand to once again run away from the competition with the Wii U. Only time will tell, but all Nintendo fans are now looking ahead to E3 a month from now to see what Nintendo really has up their sleeve.
Check back with GamerNode for up-to-the-minute coverage of E3 2012 as soon as the first conference begins on June 4th.
