Poor Nintendo, they’re not having the best time at the moment. In case you don’t remember let’s go over their recent hardships.
Late last year Nintendo changed their official financial forecast, predicting an operating loss of around ¥20 billion. This forecast came after speculation on the poor sales of the Nintendo 3DS and poor Wii software sales for the year. As bad as things were, it seems they’re getting worse.
Recently Nintendo have changed their forecast, predicting an ever deeper operating loss of ¥45 billion (~$575 million). This new forecast is again down to surprisingly poor 3DS sales. This seems to be prompting a shift in Nintendo marketing, the rationale is that the sales stem from the handhelds name. Consumers see the monicker ‘DS’ and assume it’s just a new version of an existing device and simply refuse to upgrade. This issue is causing them to rethink they’re upcoming Wii U console.
If the rumors are true we could be seeing a new name for the console, something that brings attention the fact that it isn’t an upgraded Wii. If this is true then this July’s E3 will likely be the scene for the big reveal. It’s already rumored that we’ll be hearing from Nintendo at E3 concerning the Wii U so it serves as the most logical place to announce a major re-branding.
It’s hard to really tell what’s going through the Nintendo executives heads right now, but it’s clear the company needs some real help. If the Wii U launches to dismal sales then this could be a dark time for Nintendo, perhaps even threatening its future. E3 this year could be a make or break affair, only time will tell what the future holds for Nintendo now.
