Nintendo stocks declined 2.3 percent - the biggest decline in more than two weeks - in Osaka trading on the growing concern that price cuts to the 3DS will not do enough for the company to meet its full-year sales target. Nintendo stock fell 2.3 percent to 13,160 yen, the biggest drop the company has seen since August 24. Overall, the stock has declined 45 percent this year.
Investors are worried because the company was projected to sell 16 million 3DS systems by the year ending March 31, 2012. In July the company slashed the price of the 3DS by 40 percent, or $80, after sales fell far short of the company’s expectations.
“Nintendo must adjust its expectations in a world increasingly dominated by smartphones and tablets,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities Inc to Bloomberg. “Nintendo will have two-thirds as much success in handhelds and consoles as in the past.”
The company sold about 235,000 units of the 3DS in the U.S. in August, About 185,000 of those units were sold after the price was cut to $169.99 on Aug. 12. Sales of the 3DS in Japan totaled around 55,000 units in the seven days ended Sept. 4, according to the Enterbrain. The figure is 74 percent fewer than sales made in the second week of August when Nintendo cut the price.
Source: Bloomberg
Comments
Re: Nintendo Stocks Continue Decline on 3DS Fears
I'm suprised that they even bet on 3D when 3D TV sales are so bad. Even without the glasses, its been around and no ones been that impressed.
-Austin from Oregon
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Re: Nintendo Stocks Continue Decline on 3DS Fears
Methinks Nintendo overestimated it's own popularity and salability of it's products due to the Wii. The Wii was popular because it was cheap and it promoted exercise (or at least appeared to) with many of it's games. The price point for a lot of the games was also cheaper than the current price point of 3ds games.
Their other big problem with the market they're competing in. With the Wii, they were fighting against the 360 and the PS3. With the 3DS, their main competition isn't the PSP, but the Apple iPhone, iPad, and various Droid phones and Pads. They may have had a corner on the portable market for years, but with the massive popularity of flash games being played on phones for free or a dollar, it's a lot harder to convince the 'casual' gaming market to buy a dedicated portable for gaming.
Re: Nintendo Stocks Continue Decline on 3DS Fears
Re: Nintendo Stocks Continue Decline on 3DS Fears
And yet, unit sales have increased by 260% since the price dropped. Curiouser and curiouser...
Atlanta Video Games Examiner for examiner.com