Tech & Science
John Hofilena on May 6 2013
In a bid to make its newest game console more profitable, Japanese console manufacturers
Nintendo Co. is trying to modify its newest console iteration, the Wii U – which has a handheld element and a touchscreen – so that users can play their most-loved smartphone apps on the console. The globally-renowned gaming giants are now aiming to allow customers to use smartphone applications on their new console as the company
searches for a way to increase profitability.
After a 43 billion yen loss last year,
Nintendo Co. should be happy to post an annual profit of 7.1 billion yen (US$72 million) as the fiscal year ended on March 31. The Kyoto-based game console and software manufacturer was boosted by the weakening yen, creating an environment ideal for exporters like Nintendo. Still the profit was slightly less than what analysts have projected for the game company.
With
Nintendo's latest quarterly update out this week, the video game giant has revealed that it is reducing its sales forecasts for the new
Wii U console to 4 million units, down from the 5.5 million expected, in the 2012 fiscal year ending in March. While Nintendo racked up just over 3 million sales worldwide
through the Christmas period in December, sales have rapidly slowed as analysts are quick to point out the loss of momentum as compared to the launch of the original Wii in 2006.
Japanese gaming company
Nintendo, maker of the 3DS handheld and new Wii U console, is undergoing a major organizational change, according to Japanese newspaper Nikkei. As part of this change, it will merge the once perpetually separate teams developing its gaming consoles and its handheld gaming consoles. This comes at a time when the games hardware marketplace, an avenue that used to be dominated by Nintendo, is now riddled with worthy competition, which
includes non-traditional rivals like Apple and Android.
New information was published on Thursday with regards to how many units of Nintendo's latest video game console, the
Wii U, have been sold in Japan in the four weeks since its release. Data from Media Create, a Japanese think tank, shows that Nintendo sold 694,370 Wii U consoles since the day of its launch in Japan, December 8th, and January 6th.
Satoru Iwata, the president of video game giant
Nintendo, has revealed that the end of year sales for the Wii U, the company's newest home console, have been off to a steady start, but are not as impressive as when its predecessor was released several years ago. As the first new game console to be released since Nintendo's original Wii in 2006, the Wii U has certainly made a splash,
selling over 400,000 units in the first week of the U.S. launch, but the Super Mario creator still has a tough fight against the growing trend of mobile gaming on smartphones and tablets.
Nintendo launched its latest, much-anticipated video game console, the
Wii U, over the weekend, and by all accounts the system was a popular seller, much like in the U.S. and Europe, where it went on sale in mid-November. This is Nintendo's first home console since it launched the original Wii in 2006, and the game company aims to provide a new experience with its tablet-like GamePad, complete with touch screen, in order to maintain relevancy in a market increasingly moving towards smartphones.
Tech & Science
Adam Westlake on Nov 27 2012
Nintendo's latest video game console, the
Wii U, is selling like mad during the first week of its launch in the U.S., selling over 400,000 units between November 18th and the 24th. With a starting price of $300, these numbers come directly from
Nintendo, and are just short of the 475,000 units sold in the first week of the original Wii's launch in 2006, according to NPD Group's data.
In a rare move from
Nintendo, the Japanese video game giant, the company has revealed that it will sell each of its
new Wii U game consoles at a price below cost, meaning they will lose money each unit sold. The Kyoto-based Mario creator recently had little choice but to switch to that strategy with its most recent 3DS handheld system, having to lower the price to less than cost after its initial release was seen as too expensive for sales to take off.
Business
Ida Torres on Oct 25 2012
Nintendo Co. Ltd., one of the biggest names in the gaming industry both in Japan and abroad, has just modified its annual profit outlook. Citing a stronger yen and decreasing console and handheld sales, Nintendo slashed its outlook almost by half as it pins its hope on the successor to the immensely popular Wii gaming console.
