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Nintendo Boss Iwata Fears Becoming Outdated After Wii U Performance

Amidst the headlines of losses and sales this week, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata gave a hint about the company's outlook moving forward.

The Wii U came under fire this week after Nintendo revised sales figures for the fiscal year to date, downgrading predicted sales by more than two thirds.

To combat this, president Satoru Iwata intends to remain in the company and suggested a "new business structure" being proposed. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Nintendo had needed to keep better "track of trends in the west" and that Iwata felt he had misread the market. Nintendo are still on good ground to continue within the market, sitting on a cool ¥463.19 billion ($4.44 billion) according to the report.

"If we stay in one place, we will become outdated," stated Iwata, noting how the company has realised that lifestyles and way people use their time has indeed changed. "In Japan, I can be my own antenna, but abroad, that doesn't work."

Nintendo will be discussing more about how to move forward from a less-than-expected year on January 30th.

Yoshihisa Toyosaki, president of Tokyo-based IT consultancy Architect Grand Design expressed how "Nintendo is out of touch" and feels the company "has a chance to change course" but has fears that they won't take it.

Do you think a change in business structure and direction is needed by Nintendo?

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Sonic_13 18.01.2014#1

As long as the change in business structure doesn't involve putting Nintendo games on mobile phones, Xbox or Playstation, then I'm happy.

georg3 18.01.2014#2

Me too, Nintendo is by far my favourite gaming company, yes it may not stand up to the likes of Microsoft and Sony but Nintendo has its own unique, enjoyable flare that enables you to play a game with fun rather than with a serious mindset as you do with other games. I don't mind older Nintendo games being released on smart phones but Nintendo is a true gem in the field of gaming and I'd like to see a day when everybody has a Wii U or 3Ds again.

Flynnie 18.01.2014#3

Sounds like he is taking a pop at Reggie there!

I think Nintendo are being hard on themselves though, as is the industry. Its phenomenal how great the 3DS is. I really think people that don't own one are missing out.

The Wii U is really compeiting against powerful consoles that have been marketed as just that, with multiple multi-media functions and real excitement around them. Unfortunately the Wii U is just too expensive. The cost has come down a tad, but the Wii really won the race as it was a good price. I think the Wii U could have a good 2014 if it found its way to the £160-199 mark.

Nintendo are innovative but are behind on the simple things that have become commonplace (linked accounts, online play, multimedia functions) all of which don't bother me too much but i do think they bother the mass market.

Darkflame 19.01.2014#4

Nintendos course is fine - it just has to do a lot better at it.
I fear any talk of "changing course" is code for "apps! freeminum stuff! mobile only" and other crap.

Theres still a core group of gamers that want big meaty gaming. 3DS sales prove that.
The WiiU simply has not yet provided enough appeal to be worth the expensive - thats why I havnt bought it,and I suspect why a lot of others haven't either.

A screen on the pad just isnt as imediantly appealing as the wiimote was - and there is nothing like WiiSports at launch. Meanwhile out of traditional controled games, theres just little that feels new. Dont get my wrong - Mario looks fantastic. But its not enough on its own. Ports of other games dont interest me. "HD" versions dont interest me. And, no mater how good, I dont need so many 2D platform games.
Nintendo needs diversity and unique stuff. They dont have it yet.

But nothing out of that is unrecoverable, and nothing shows that, in principle, Nintendos doing anything wrong.
They simply arnt suppling enough of their normal Wow factor. Give me X. Give me a true new Zelda, let Retro do something interesting. Use your huge piles of money to take some risks on big projects.

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georg3 20.01.2014#5

I have to agree with you Flynnie, the Wii U would do so much better in the £160-190 region and honestly that is what I'm waiting for, I really want Mk8 and SSB4 butI'm not paying more than £200 for a Wii U, bu hey with the PS4 and XBox One likely to have price drops this year I think the same is inevitable for he Wii U too oherwise it won't see any improvements in sales- worse actually- especially with the current NINTENDO situation.

Caleb Garson Heater 20.01.2014#6

These are the steps that Nintendo needs to take when they make their next console:

1. MAKE IT EASILY ACCESSIBLE FOR THIRD PARTY DEVELOPMENT. The Wii U is so proprietized that it's virtually impossible to port third party Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 titles without practically remaking the games entirely.

2. RETURN TO A TRADITIONAL METHOD AND STYLE OF GAMING (CAPITALIZE ON CLASSIC CONTROLLERS). Sure, it was interesting to see the Wiimote and the Tablet in action, but if Nintendo wants to get back to the point of being able to attract family gamers, in addition to core gamers, they need to return to using traditional controllers, much like with the N64 and the Gamecube. This is largely why core gamers in the west favor Sony's Dualshock series of controllers and Microsoft's controllers.

3. REINVENT THE NAME OF THE CONSOLE AND EXPAND MARKETING. I work in video game retail, and I can't tell you how many times I've had customers ask, "Wait, Nintendo has a new console out?" It's incredible, I know, that even after a year of the Wii U having been on store shelves, people still do not realize that the Wii U is entirely separate from the Wii. I believe this is due to the name. People associate the Wii U with the Wii because both consoles contain the same name. Nintendo needs to re-brand the name of each console they release and then invest in massive marketing campaigns so that people are aware of Nintendo's current products.

Nintendo's handheld department is functioning strongly, so the 3DS is in a good place right now.

( Edited 20.01.2014 22:52 by Caleb Garson Heater )