Nintendo delays 3D portable gaming device, lowers forecast
In a setback for Nintendo and a windfall for Apple, Nintendo cut its profit forecast by more than half and announced that the release of its 3D gaming hand-held has been pushed back until next year.
The announcement, which was made at a Nintendo product event Wednesday and reported by The Wall Street Journal, is further evidence that Apple is cannibalizing substantial portions of Nintendo's profits.
At the event, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said that the Kyoto, Japan-based company had hoped to release its 3DS hand-held by year-end, but realized it wouldn't be able to supply enough units this year, the report noted. The 3DS, which features glasses-free 3D gaming, will launch on Feb. 26 in Japan and arrive in the U.S. and Europe the following month. The device will retail for 25,000 yen ($299), compared to Apple Japan's 20,900 yen ($250) price tag for the 8gb iPod touch.
The 3DS was announced in March as part of an effort by Nintendo to differentiate itself from Apple and its iOS offerings. Last year, Iwata predicted a "dark" future for Nintendo if it remained unable to do so.
A 3D Nintendo hand-held might not differentiate itself for long. Patent filings reveal that Apple has also been looking into 3D display options for several years now.
Earlier this year, Iwata reportedly told other Nintendo executives that Apple is now the "enemy of the future."
Last year, Nintendo's profits fell sharply, in part due to competition from iOS. According to the Journal, Nintendo had posted five impressive years of growth until earnings slipped last year.
This year's results still appear bleak, as sales of the Wii and DS have dropped off. Nintendo's profit warning Wednesday lowered the company's profit forecast for the fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2011, from 200 billion yen ($2.39 billion) to 90 billion yen ($1.07 billion), the report. Nintendo stock fell in response to the news.
With Nintendo backing out of the competition for this holiday season's "must-have" gadget, Apple is well-positioned to continue making gains in the mobile gaming market.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs boasted in September that the iPod touch is "the number one game player in the world," a title that has traditionally been claimed by Nintendo and its offerings. "The iPod touch outsells Nintendo and Sony portable game players combined," said Jobs. Although the figures have been called into question, it's clear that Apple's foray into the gaming market has been remarkably successful.
A recent survey described Apple as having entered the "major league" of the portable gaming market, with over 40 million iOS gamers in the U.S. In comparison, Nintendo DS and DSi gamers total 41 million and Sony has just 19 million PSP gamers.
The announcement, which was made at a Nintendo product event Wednesday and reported by The Wall Street Journal, is further evidence that Apple is cannibalizing substantial portions of Nintendo's profits.
At the event, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said that the Kyoto, Japan-based company had hoped to release its 3DS hand-held by year-end, but realized it wouldn't be able to supply enough units this year, the report noted. The 3DS, which features glasses-free 3D gaming, will launch on Feb. 26 in Japan and arrive in the U.S. and Europe the following month. The device will retail for 25,000 yen ($299), compared to Apple Japan's 20,900 yen ($250) price tag for the 8gb iPod touch.
The 3DS was announced in March as part of an effort by Nintendo to differentiate itself from Apple and its iOS offerings. Last year, Iwata predicted a "dark" future for Nintendo if it remained unable to do so.
A 3D Nintendo hand-held might not differentiate itself for long. Patent filings reveal that Apple has also been looking into 3D display options for several years now.
Earlier this year, Iwata reportedly told other Nintendo executives that Apple is now the "enemy of the future."
Last year, Nintendo's profits fell sharply, in part due to competition from iOS. According to the Journal, Nintendo had posted five impressive years of growth until earnings slipped last year.
This year's results still appear bleak, as sales of the Wii and DS have dropped off. Nintendo's profit warning Wednesday lowered the company's profit forecast for the fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2011, from 200 billion yen ($2.39 billion) to 90 billion yen ($1.07 billion), the report. Nintendo stock fell in response to the news.
With Nintendo backing out of the competition for this holiday season's "must-have" gadget, Apple is well-positioned to continue making gains in the mobile gaming market.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs boasted in September that the iPod touch is "the number one game player in the world," a title that has traditionally been claimed by Nintendo and its offerings. "The iPod touch outsells Nintendo and Sony portable game players combined," said Jobs. Although the figures have been called into question, it's clear that Apple's foray into the gaming market has been remarkably successful.
A recent survey described Apple as having entered the "major league" of the portable gaming market, with over 40 million iOS gamers in the U.S. In comparison, Nintendo DS and DSi gamers total 41 million and Sony has just 19 million PSP gamers.
Comments
Opps, I should have read the article before posting, lol
Nintendo had better up their game (pun intended) in the industrial design department.
If you see plastic, they blew it.
According to Steve Jobs Nintendo is in direct competition with Apple in the hand held gaming arena, in fact they have surpassed them in market share, I wonder what the folks at Nintendo have to say about that?
There's a difference between currently selling more and market share. And apple did not claim to surpass Nintendo in market share.
In a setback for Nintendo and a windfall for Apple,
This article should make the posters here very happy.
Nintendo wasn't "delaying" the device, it never had any sort of announced date. You can't delay what was never dated.
QFT.
AppleInsider is trying to spin this in Apple's favor. 3DS got its release date with this announcement. Beforehand, there was no release date announced. Nintendo is FAR from being in a bad spot. They are market leaders and raking in money hand over fist.
People may like the story of Apple and Nintendo as rivals in handheld gaming, but in reality they are very different and will get only more so with the 3DS. What handheld Apple product offers 3D games with analog control as well as 3D video?
Neither is better than the other. They serve different segments of the market.
Also, make no mistake Nintendo is a hardware company first and foremost. Their advances in hardware are what help differentiate their games from others. D-pad, analog control, mode 7 graphics, triggers, shoulder buttons, rumble, dual screens, motion control and 3D to name a few.
Nintendo is a software company at least as much as a hardware company. If their hardware didn't make it, they could just develop for the iPod Touch.
No
Nintendo is like apple
They know how to create software and to keep the control but like Apple their business is to sell hardware.
It's not Mario video game who makes the money but the wii and ds. But mario allows to sell many devices.
Nintendo are an absolute giant, in a field only held by few (Apple, Sony and MS).
What? Nintendo are not going anywhere, or need to "test" their software on an Apple platform. The fanboy nonsense spinned here sometimes is dumbfounding.
Nintendo are an absolute giant, in a field only held by few (Apple, Sony and MS).
Well, they're a giant whose profits have fallen the last four quarters in a row and who just cut their forecast by 50%, and who is seeing declining sales of their bread and butter products.
Maybe 3D will make everything better, but if it doesn't they're a giant with a fairly constrained looking future. Just because a company is big isn't any guarantee that they can't fall on hard times.
Nintendo wasn't "delaying" the device, it never had any sort of announced date. You can't delay what was never dated.
Exactly this.
Nintendo didn?t delay anything. They never gave the 3DS a 2010 release date in the first place.
Here's Bloomberg's take on Nintendo's announcement, which makes absolutely no mention of Apple because Nintendo themselves did not mention them. Bloomberg
Nintendo wasn't "delaying" the device, it never had any sort of announced date. You can't delay what was never dated.
they try to create buzz by making an announcement "when they will announce it"
then its NOT here for Christmas
doesn't matter they are giving the biggest market to all their competitors like apple
bad bad bad bad planning.....stock will reflect it
to maintain any momentum, they will have to cut prices, bundle freebies or low price items
basically reduce margin
wow, bad bad
Apple isn't "canibalizing" Nintendo anymore than Humans 'canibalize' Chickens or Cows.
Kinda like, the other white meat??
I've yet to find a single App Store game that can suck me in for hours on end like any of the DS games I have. None even comes close. What App Store games are good at is lower-production value games, puzzle games, digital versions of card or board games, etc. Any kind of deep adventure game or even some semblance of a plot just falls flat. Even existing games don't translate well - I bought Final Fantasy 1/2 yesterday since they were on sale, played each for about 3 minutes and hit the home button. They were terrible, terrible implementations, because they used the same idea of screen-as-gamepad. It just doesn't work. Touchscreen works well for a number of genres, it can work well together with hard controls (see any number of great DS games), but it can never replace a gamepad. Which is why I'll keep my iPhone 4 and continue to play games like Sudoku on it, and I'll be in line for a 3DS at launch day.
and here's a bottle of chilled champagne, whilst you wait.
Nintendo is like apple
They know how to create software and to keep the control but like Apple their business is to sell hardware.
It's not Mario video game who makes the money but the wii and ds. But mario allows to sell many devices.
That's untrue. Whilst Nintendo does make a small profit on each Wii and DS sold, the amount is paltry. The real money for any console manufacturer is games, both directly through first party titles and licensing fees for third party titles.
The potential for software sales is so great that Sony and Microsoft are willing to sell their consoles at a loss.