Satoru Iwata is as confused as the rest of us at the investor reaction to the Wii U announcement which has seen Nintendo's stock fall by some ten per cent in two days.
Speaking to Reuters, Iwata expressed surprise at Nintendo's falling share price, but pointed out that the Wii announcement in 2006 was met with a similarly lukewarm response - and that he was confident that would change once people got their hands on the innovative new controller.
"Honestly speaking, the reaction to the presentation and what I heard from people I met and the mood of the conversation did not chime at all with what happened in the stock market," he said. "It's very strange.
"In the end, it is easy to get the mistaken impression that this is just a game console with a tablet. People who came to the presentation and tried it out have understood very well that it opens up a lot of new possibilities. But people who have not tried it will find it hard to believe that this controller will change things."
Wii U was announced at E3 on Tuesday, and resulted in Nintendo's shares sliding 5.7 per cent in a single day to its lowest level in five years - which one analyst put down to Nintendo's failure to report "anything more than what's already [been] reported."
That was followed yesterday by another fall of 5.2 per cent, with another Japanese analyst ascribing it to "structural issues caused by transformation within the market"; a reference to a landscape vastly different to that which greeted the Wii in 2006 thanks to the rise of social and mobile games.
Despite falling again in early trading today, Nintendo's stock has recovered slightly, ending the day up 0.93 per cent at ¥16,310 per share. At the start of the week, that figure was ¥18,250; Nintendo's 52-week high is ¥29,320.
Source: Reuters
Comments
16I don't think the Japanese will like this large controller. Don't the Japanese traditionally favour smaller controllers and pads?
As for people loving the controller when they get their hands on it, didn't Nintendo say that people would love the 3DS once they'd used it? Well, a lot of people have used the 3DS, and its sales have been somewhat disappointing so far, haven't they?
I expect the Wii U/2 will sell reasonably well, but I don't think it'll sell anywhere near as well as the Wii 1 has.
Yes this totally innvotive controller which is basically a copy of Ipad and PSVita. Its gonna be class when more than 1 person plays and finds he has to use the awesome Wii mote.
That's teh dumbest thing I've heard in some time. If it is ripping anything off it would be more like ripping off the DS and the gamecube's functionality to connect GBAs to it. The system would have obviously be in development long before the new PSP and there is nothing it does that Nintendo hasn't done already.
Not to mention that that the new tablet controller (does it have a name yet), will be dropped the second a player wants to play one of the 3rd party ports that were shown at E3.
that's hardly self-evident at all.
Also, it should be noted that those were not ports. the footage was of the original games. We don't know how the ports will be treated as they come to the wii u. It is very possible that they will take advantage of the new controller.
at least nintendo are trying something different and I for one want that in the games industry and think the wii u looks great.....I think most people do...fanboys aside of course.
Your presentation was rubbish, and told people absolutely nothing about the console. What's so hard to understand?
Yeah they are doing something different the shite that was motion control. I didn't buy a Wii because i don't want to wave my arms about and pretend i'm playing tennis. You can count the quality Wii games on one hand.
Different to what? Copying Ipad and streaming. Other companies already thought of this idea. I suppose all the suckers who bought a Wii will get sucked into buying this too!!!!
I'll stick to me X360 and PS3
I agree with Dante. A very poor presentation of the new console has got to take the blame for some of the drop. The decision not to show any games like Darksiders II, which is said to be 'completely running' on the console,was a mistake. The decision to not even show the console, leading people to believe that the Wii U was just an add on for the Wii was just straight up stupid
Nintendo stock deserves to all after the such a poor showing.
When the controller for the then titled Revolution was announced, you could tell it would change the industry. Everyone was excited by it aside from the possibility of the dour and unimaginative hardcore gamers. When they named it the Wii, I thought they were being daring yet fun and inclusive.
The Wii U has none of that excitement. It's a step backwards from the inclusive nature of the Wii. It's unique selling point is not everyone's living room focus, it's not family gaming. It's unique selling point, is the touchscreen that you can stream the game to, so your mum can watch her soaps while you cower away in your bedroom poking at a screen.
Yes, Wii games in HD will be a success. But the touchscreen gamble will not pay off.
"...Iwata is as confused as the rest of us..."
No, we aren't all confused.
Simply put: Investors were disapointed with the Wii U and how it was revealed.
This is how Nintendo disapointed them...
Day 1: Reveal a last gen console without a release date, price, and most astoundingly of all: no first party game announcements, just tech demo's & footage from competing consoles. Don't mention Wii U online store, play, or services at all. Showed 3rd party publishers supporting Wii U with many big Japanese publishers and the biggest American publisher absent. Nintedo stock immediately drops 5%.
Day 2: The shock of day one starts to settle in, plus there is now the very stunning news that you can't use more than 1 new controller at once. Nintendo stock drops another 5%.
It's not rocket science.
There are effectively three groups of people that Nintendo is going to be marketing to:
Market Segment 1: Socccer Mums/Grandparents etc -don't care about better graphics or a touch pad on their controller (it might even be a complicated looking device to them). Wii Fit was the last game they bought and they don't need or want another console.
Market Segment 2: Gamers (who love Zelda/Mario) -captive audience who will buy anything Nintendo puts out.
3. Gamers (who could take or leave Zelda/Mario) -are probably quite happy with their PS3/360, and wont see a touch screen on a pad as a compelling reason to spend money on a new console based on old tech with a vastly smaller games library. Especially if they can't use two or more pads at once. Keep in mind that it wont launch till April-Dec 2012 and the neXtbox and PS4 are likely to be talked about, if not revealed at E3 in June 2012.
So they wont have Market segments 1 and 3, and this time they may even lose a small amount of segment 2. That doesn't leave many people to buy U's.
No wonder investors are worried!
Iwata should can this project now.
If he doesn't, he should be asked to step down.
All of a sudden Nintendo cares for us gamers???
Stick ya motion shite up ya arse!
I think they just realised the hardcore gamers spend a lot more money than casuals on games and accessaries
For the last 4-5 years 86 million people have been buying the Wii, tried it and parked it to collect dust. During the same time around 100 million gamers have bought the 360 and PS3, playing the crap out of them...and guess what...the good old fashioned way using a controller and having the game on a large TV-screen and of course hooked up online. It's really depressing to see how little Nintendo knows about the coregamer.
Never has a hardware announcement left me so confused and appathetical.
You might ask: "Have Nintendo 'done a SEGA'?" in daring to unveil new hardware first? The Wii-U might well build a library of compelling titles and a vocal fan-base (as did the Saturn and Dreamcast), but it may also struggle to remain relevant if Sony and MS tease their next systems in the next year to 18-months.
Why all the hate? I personally liked the presentation, also thought that focusing on a controller rather than specs is more sensible, it just gives a better impression of the console. And when Wii was first introduced, few people got exactly excited. Crucial will be next E3, because then we really gonna see the console and all its functionality, and most importantly, the games. Having said that, I do believe that having a tablet controller is a step back from the innovations introduced with Wii. The problem with Wii to me was, that it promised perfect motion control to start with, but only offered waggling. Nintendo did not invest into new "hardcore" games, which used the motion control well, for example Metroid Prime 3 showed interesting possibilities for the shooter genre, that were never followed-up with more games. Finally, I do think that Wii U comes way too late, it should have arrived 2010, by 2012 everyone who cares about HD gaming will have a 360 anyway.
PS: Just a guess, maybe the controller takes up so much processing power from the system, that it cannot support two at the time???