In one the oddest investor complaints ever, Nintendo's shareholders are reportedly mad at the maker of Mario, Zelda and the Wii, for not leveraging its core franchises on Apple's iOS platforms. Apparently investors haven't noticed for the life of the company's video game industry involvement that Nintendo does not swim in any other ponds but its own. According to a report from Bloomberg's Mike Firn (reporting from Tokyo), investors are now saying that it should develop titles for Apple's iPhone. That would be like Microsoft investors telling it that it should develop Halo games for the PlayStation 3 or Wii...
The complaints highlight the situation that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata faces as consumers shun Nintendo devices to play games on iPhones, iPads and Facebook. The flop of the 3DS debut prompted the company to cut prices 40 percent in Japan and 32 percent in the U.S., the first time the games developer has resorted to such a move within six months of a product’s debut.
Iwata has said that Nintendo will only make titles for its own products as long as he’s in charge, but fund manager Masamitsu Ohki said the company should "scrap that strategy to avoid further alienating investors who have driven the stock to six-year lows."
"Smartphones are the new battlefield for the gaming industry," said Ohki, a fund manager at Tokyo-based Stats Investment Management Co. "Nintendo should try to either buy its way into this platform or develop something totally new."
Ohki declined to identify his holdings to Bloomberg or to name any targets Nintendo should consider for an acquisition. Yasuhiro Minagawa, a spokesman at Nintendo, declined to comment beyond statements made previously by Iwata.
In the short term, Nintendo is betting on price cuts to the 3DS which now sells for 15,000 yen down from 25,000 yen starting today in Japan and a number of new game titles to revive earnings. The company plans to introduce flagship titles such as Super Mario 3D Land in November and Mario Kart 7 in December for the 3DS. In the U.S., the 3DS will cost $169.99, down from $249.99.
Source: Bloomberg
Comments
Re: Investors Mad at Nintendo for not Developing iOS Games
Did those investors fail to realise that they had invested in a company that produces hardware as well as software? Providing a competitive advantage for a competing product would be just... insane. I imagine that if these investors held shares six years ago they might have criticised Nintendo for producing the Wii when they ought to produce games for PS2.
More to the point, that raises another concern that these investors seem to think they know the games industry better than Nintendo, but are too ignorant to realise that they don't.
Re: Investors Mad at Nintendo for not Developing iOS Games
Re: Investors Mad at Nintendo for not Developing iOS Games
This is one of those incidences that I want to just yell out the investors for their stupidity. It just amazes me how naive they can be. They are willing to throw money at something and not even know how the market works? Just wow.
Re: Investors Mad at Nintendo for not Developing iOS Games
I somehow suspect several of these investors have connections with apple. I think the problem is more along the lines of just how muchh they charge for a handheld system.
Re: Investors Mad at Nintendo for not Developing iOS Games
Unlikely.
I see the more plausible explination is investors usually have a very shallow and fad oriented understanding of the markets they invest in. In many ways (esp after the 80s) investors are a company's worst enemies and listening to them is a good way to drive yourself into the ground.
Re: Investors Mad at Nintendo for not Developing iOS Games
If any understanding at all. That most investors don't do any research into their market is reason enough to not listen to them. They probably haven't noticed that Nintendo's dominated the handheld market for the past two and a half decades. They've done well enough for themselves on their own, they should just keep doing what they're doing.
Atlanta Video Games Examiner for examiner.com
Re: Investors Mad at Nintendo for not Developing iOS Games
Yeah, they are likely being very narrow minded. They see sales on iPhone apps skyrocketing and think Nintendo should jump in there too. What they don't realize is that the 3DS is not a lost cause and Nintendo needs more time to get its flagship titles out in order to attract more sales. If after all that, Nintendo STILL continues to lose money, then maybe they can look into alternatives. For now, it's way too soon to just give up and hand everything over to another company.