WEBVTT - The Nintendo Story: Part Three 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:14.600 Technology Stuff from Hey there, and welcome to Tech Stuff. 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:18.599 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. And if thingn't sound a 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:22.960 little odd today, it's because I'm actually recording in my 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:27.400 home studio, my home studio which is got a window 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:32.480 facing out towards train tracks. It's not an ideal situation, 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:35.519 but it's what I have to work with. And today 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:38.320 we're going to look at the third part of the 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:42.159 Nintendo Story, the update to the two part series that 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:46.480 my former co host Chris Palette and I did way 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:51.279 back in two thousand eleven. So back then, at that 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:54.200 point that we you had not yet been released and 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:57.480 had been announced but not released. So we've got a 0:00:57.480 --> 0:00:59.760 lot to catch up on. And I'm going to pick 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:02.040 up in two thousand eleven and carry on up through 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.600 present day. Also, I want to get this out of 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:09.160 the way first thing. There will be a point in 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:12.280 this podcast at the end of the episode in which 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:17.520 I talk about stuff relating to gamer Gate. Now, I 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.200 want to say this. I can't be any more clear 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:27.840 than this, harassment tactics have no place in society, period, 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:32.880 end of discussion. Now, I believe wholeheartedly that you are 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:38.480 free to criticize the video game industry and video game journalism. 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:41.600 That is perfectly fine. It is something that you should 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:44.440 do if you truly believe in it, if you can 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:47.840 do it in a way that isn't an attack on people. 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.280 If you think that video game journalism is broken, or 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.960 that the people who oppose gamer Gate that they are wrong, 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:58.320 that's also fine. That's something we can actually have a 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:05.960 conversation about. Isn't fine is using bullying tactics, threats, insults, 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:10.480 dox sing, and other methods to terrify or silence someone. 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:14.840 That is not fine, period. And if you think I'm wrong, 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:20.160 unsubscribe to this podcast. I do not want you listening 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:25.239 to my show, Okay. I don't want people who think 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:29.800 it's fine to make another human beings life miserable to 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:33.120 be listening to tech stuff. So if if that's something 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:36.760 that you think is cool or funny, unsubscribed, I don't 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:40.520 want you listening to the show. Now. I say all 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:42.360 that right now, because when I get to the part 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.119 in this episode that deals with gamer Gate, I might 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:47.040 not be in the right frame of mind to get 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:51.200 this point across in a civil reasonable way. I have 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:55.359 no tolerance for people who disregard another human beings, feelings, 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:59.720 and well being. No one deserves to face that sort 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:01.760 of of abuse. And if you don't think it's a 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:07.680 big deal, you are absolutely one percent wrong. Being constantly 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:14.200 hounded and attacked is a huge deal. It's not cool. Alright, 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:16.960 So we got my podcast or warning out of the way, 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:21.839 and keep in mind again, you can disagree with what 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:24.760 people say. I don't have a problem with that. I 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:28.600 definitely do not have a problem if you feel that 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:34.040 the points that gamer gate enthusiasts make are correct. I 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:36.360 don't agree with it, but I don't have a problem 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:40.560 with you believing that and arguing that. The problem I 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:44.320 have is when you attack people. That's the problem I have. 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:48.680 Although let's be fair, I also think that if you 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:52.520 are really dead set against women being in the video 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:56.080 game industry, you are a misogynist. That's just that's the 0:03:56.120 --> 0:04:02.000 definition of misogyny really, or a definition of mysogyny. It's 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:04.960 just it's something you've got to own. I think it's 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.080 bad and I think it's wrong. But if that's who 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:12.120 you're gonna be own it because you can't get around 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:14.800 the fact that you are saying one thing, but you 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:17.920 don't want to be labeled that thing. All right, let's 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:20.880 actually talk about Nintendo. Now. We'll get back to gamer 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:23.960 Gate towards the end of the episode. So when we 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:28.880 left off, it was Nintendo in two thousand eleven, Nintendo's 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:31.680 annual report for two thousand eleven, which actually comes out 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:35.560 in two thousand twelve. So Nintendo their financial year. Their 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:41.360 fiscal year begins in April and ends March thirty one, 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.159 So the fiscal year is not the same as the 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.400 calendar year. So when you talk about the annual report 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.040 of two thousand eleven, that actually comes out after March 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:54.640 thirty one, two thousand and twelve. Well, in the annual report, 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.520 the company announced it had sold eighty six point zero 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:03.400 one million units of the Week console worldwide, an incredible 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:06.880 number of sales, and in fact, that number would continue 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.279 to grow over time. The top selling game for the 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:13.920 Wei was We Sports with seventy six point seventy six 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:18.839 million copies, but let's be fair, that game was sold 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:22.600 with the Wii in most regions. In other words, this 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:25.520 was the game you would get when you purchased your Wii, 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:30.279 so automatically those sales should have been pretty high. Seeing 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:32.760 is how there are eighty six million Wi units sold. 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:36.960 Mario Karti was the top selling Nintendo title that had 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:40.760 an iconic character attached at that time. That one had 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:45.719 sold twenty seven million copies, so significantly viewer. It actually 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:50.640 shows you that one of the appeeling aspects of the 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:55.960 WEI was that it had this casual gamer appeal, and 0:05:56.040 --> 0:06:00.640 casual gamers don't necessarily care about iconic characters the way 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:05.760 quote unquote hardcore gamers do, and that's reflected when you 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:11.239 see the most popular iconic character title was Mario kart 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:15.080 We and it had sold twenty seven million copies. That 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.960 tells you something. At any rate, we fit and we 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:22.640 Fit plus sold about forty million units in total, so 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:27.080 almost you know, not quite but but definitely more than 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:31.640 Mario Karte, but not twice as much. Um, still pretty impressive. 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.719 And by two thousand eleven, the Nintendo D S series 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:38.400 had sold a total of one hundred forty six point 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:42.440 forty two million units. Now, to be fair, that's across 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:47.040 the entire family of DS devices you probably are aware of. 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:50.960 The three DS didn't do nearly as well. So what 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:54.040 was the top selling DS game at that point? Super 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:58.520 Mario World with twenty six point eight eight million units sold, 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:04.440 So again, it was a very popular family of handheld games, 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:07.280 but that didn't necessarily mean that any one title was 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:12.920 going to have this insanely uh popular run. In twenty 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.680 six point eight eight million, that's a lot. That's a 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:20.880 lot of of Super Mario World games, but not not 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:23.800 anywhere close to to what you would think based upon 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:27.240 the number of units out there. Now, Nintendo had cut 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.040 the sales price of the three D s by the 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:33.680 end of two thousand eleven, and actually some people think 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.760 that that was While it was probably a necessary move, 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.760 it didn't do the company very many favors because it 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:44.920 kind of contributed to some rough financial uh data. Moving 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:48.600 into actual two thousand twelve, keeping in mind that report 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:52.360 really came out spring of twelve, but in January two 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.120 thousand twelve, I actually had the opportunity to play with 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:59.440 the Wii U before it was publicly unveiled, although it 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:02.240 had been taught about at that point already, but I 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:03.760 got a chance to actually get my hands on it 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:08.120 and play it at c S. Now. Nintendo wasn't exhibiting 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.880 at c S. They had a suite in a nearby hotel, 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:14.720 and they invited certain members of the press to come 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.720 in and play with it, and somehow they got my name. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.560 I have no idea how they got my name. I 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:23.480 am thankful they got my name because I had the 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:25.440 chance to play the We You before it came out, 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:29.200 and I thought it was a really clever device. I 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:33.200 didn't think it was one that I was going to buy, 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:35.559 and the reason for that is I thought the most 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:39.840 value from this device would be playing a game in 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:43.160 a room with other people there, so that you're having 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:47.160 a group experience playing a game. And I don't have 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.800 people over at my house very frequently, so it was 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:53.040 wasn't really a big appeal to me. I saw the 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:55.120 appeal of it. It's the sort of thing that if 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:57.000 I were at a friend's house at a party and 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:58.960 they had a We You and they wanted to play 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:01.080 one of these games, I would totally want to jump 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:04.120 on board. And I really enjoyed the fact that if 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.640 you had the game pad the controller that has the 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:12.320 tablet like interface included in it, you had a different 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:14.800 experience than if you were one of the other players 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:19.280 using the traditional we controls, and you could do lots 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:21.559 of cool stuff, like you could do a game of 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.160 pac Man where the person holding the game pad is 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:27.319 controlling pac Man, and the people with the other controllers 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:30.520 are controlling the ghosts. And you have two different views. 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:32.720 You might have a top down view for one group 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.320 and you might have a three dimensional point of view 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.640 view for the other person. It was a really cool 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:44.160 way to present video games in a new format, a 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:48.280 new user interface. So I was I was thinking, well, 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:51.840 this is interesting. I don't know if it's enough different 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:55.480 enough from the Wei to convince people who have a 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:59.080 WE to upgrade to a Wei you because otherwise it 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:03.800 looked a lot the Week console, and so I wasn't 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:05.800 sure that it was enough to convince people to buy 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:09.080 a new console, or if it would just convince people 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:11.920 who are just getting into the market to buy a 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:16.480 EU instead of a Week. In February two twelve, Nintendo 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:20.480 would purchase a company called mobi Clip. Now, if you've 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:23.240 played a lot of Game Boy Advance games or d 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:26.880 S games, you've probably seen the mobi clip logo pop up. 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:31.079 Prior to two thousand twelve, mobi Clip was a company 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:36.280 that specialized in video compression codex uh so essentially they 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:40.240 were finding ways to compress videos so that you can 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:46.000 use it in um in in limited devices devices that 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:51.160 don't have massive amounts of memory or graphics processing. So 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.400 this acquired company became a new division at Nintendo called 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:59.040 the Nintendo European Research and Development Division. Mobi Clip had 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:01.120 done some work for the know for lots of these 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:04.640 handheld gaming systems, and a job posting actually made it 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.640 clear that Nintendo was thinking of using mobi clip not 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:11.040 just to continue working in the handheld realm, but also 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:15.679 to develop technologies that would be used in consoles, presumably 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:21.319 living room consoles, not handheld consoles. So that was kind 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:23.600 of interesting. It was it was a hint that there 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:29.920 was another Nintendo console in the works. Uh So, how 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:35.040 did Nintendo do overall in two thousand eleven? Not great. 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:39.160 The company experienced an earning loss of five hundred thirty 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:43.880 two million dollars, and it had a thirty six point 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:47.400 two percent drop in net sales revenue. This was the 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:51.880 first time Nintendo had ever suffered an annual earnings loss. 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.440 Quarter by quarter was different, sometimes a quarter might be 0:11:55.600 --> 0:12:00.160 up or down, but overall, Nintendo had always come out 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:02.320 on the positive side at the end of the year. 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.800 This was the first time that didn't happen. That Nintendo 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:10.720 had lost five thirty two million dollars as a result 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:14.960 of the drop in sales and the costs that Nintendo 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:18.600 had incurred in that year. Sadly, it would not be 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:23.080 the last time this would happen to Nintendo. Now, income 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:25.319 from net sales and Nintendo products had actually been on 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:28.840 the decline since two thousand eight, So that wasn't like 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:34.720 this was a big surprise, but it definitely wasn't welcome news. Uh. 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.080 At two thousand twelves E three, Nintendo spent a really 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:41.720 a good amount of time and energy talking about the 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:44.800 Wii U. So this was them trying to say that 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:47.440 the WU was going to be the next big thing, 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:50.080 you know, since the Wei. They were trying to position 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.040 it as the future of the company and a true 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.760 innovation in gaming. But the company ran to some trouble 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:57.440 with this. A lot of critics were saying that the 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:00.880 E three presence wasn't a very strong one, and and 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:04.080 that was partially due to a pre E three event 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:08.480 in which the president Awatta unveiled the e U and 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:10.800 a lot of the games involved. So in other words, 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:15.160 people felt that this pre E three event kind of 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:19.000 stole the thunder from Nintendo, and thus it didn't make 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.160 as strong as showing at E three. In fact, I 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:25.079 g N went so far as to say that Nintendo 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.800 lost E three and that going into the event, the 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:33.280 company could have one E three now lost in win win, 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:37.080 winning or losing E three. UH. That largely is just 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.120 what we say after the fact, like which company came 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:44.400 out looking the strongest after E three, and I g 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:46.800 m s argument was that Nintendo could have come out 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:50.600 looking the strongest, largely because both Microsoft and Sony we're 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:53.959 still in the old PS three, Xbox one or Xbox 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.880 three sixty rather days, and that neither of them had 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:00.440 shown a lot of innovation in the space. So it 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:04.080 was Nintendo's game to lose, and sadly, accordint to I 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.960 g N, anyway, they did lose it now. Late in 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:11.920 two thousand twelve, Nintendo announced that the we uh It's 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:14.480 update to the Week console would hit store shelves in 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:18.560 the United States on November eight, and in the United States, 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:21.600 there would be two versions that would be available. One 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:26.280 was the basic version, which was an eight gigabyte UH 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:30.440 memory version with game pad, Hdmi cable we use sensor 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:33.720 bar a c adapter UH for a price of about 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:38.360 two dollars. Then there was more of a deluxe package, 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.040 which came with a unit that had thirty two gigabytes 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:44.320 of memory um and all the stuff that the basic 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:48.800 setup had, plus a game pad charging cradle, a stand 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:52.080 for the game pad, a stand for the console, and 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:56.080 a copy of Nintendo Land, which was sort of a 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.960 mini game collection, uh, kind of similar to Watching My 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:03.880 Find in something like Mario Party. And this version would 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:08.160 be priced at three forty nine dollars. Interestingly, it was 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.680 launching in the United States first. It actually launched a 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:15.040 little bit later in Europe and even later still in Japan. 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:19.920 Now the launch sales figures we're not what Nintendo was 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:24.200 hoping for. There was about three million units sold by 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:27.480 the end of two thousand and twelve, so to be fair, 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:29.800 they had only been on sale for about a month 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:32.400 and a half. But it was a holiday season, so 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:36.400 you expect a pretty strong adoption rate around the holidays, 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.560 but Nintendo just didn't see that. Part of that was 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.040 that sometimes we use were hard to find. It was 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:45.040 similar to the old we problem where you would go 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:47.360 to a store and they wouldn't have a unit in 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.200 for for weeks, or they would get one or two 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:54.680 in and they would be sold almost immediately. Nintendo representatives 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:57.520 later said that they thought the slow sales were largely 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.760 due to a lack of compelling games for the system 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.320 at launch. I can I can buy that. I think 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:08.720 that if your video game system does not have enough 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:13.800 compelling titles when it goes to launch, it's got an 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:18.119 uphill battle ahead of it because the people who adopted 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:23.720 early will get disenchanted with titles that don't really take 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:27.160 advantage of the system, and then the word of mouth 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.400 spreads that it's not a very good system. And it 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:31.680 may be a great system, it may just be that 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:35.400 the games that best take advantage of it are a 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:38.000 year or two down the road. Um, it's a tough 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:40.000 thing to do. You really want to have a strong 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.840 launch library when you go out with a new console, 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:45.520 and that was the problem we You just didn't have that. 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:49.720 Now in two the company was starting off the year 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.520 in a pretty rough place, so it operates at a 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:55.600 loss for the second year in a row. Over the 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:58.440 fiscal year of two thousand and twelve, the company lost 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:02.200 three hundred sixty six x million dollars, and remember the 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:06.600 previous year it had lost five thirty two million here's 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:08.639 the other thing you have to keep in mind. The 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:13.600 two thousand eleven fiscal year did not include the launch 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:18.200 of a brand new console. Two thousand twelve did include 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:21.359 the launch of a brand new console, and even with 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:25.760 the new product, the company still lost three hundred sixty 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:29.159 six million dollars, which to me tells me that it 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:31.480 would have lost even more money if the wu had 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:35.200 not come out at all. Maybe, I mean, maybe that's wrong, 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:40.919 because maybe the cost of developing, marketing, and shipping the 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:44.919 Weiu was part of that huge loss, And maybe if 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:48.080 they didn't do the Wi, you those costs, since they 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:51.160 never would have been incurred by Nintendo, maybe it means 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.800 that they would have lost less money. I'm not I'm 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:57.560 not good at finance, y'all. Anyway, Nintendo had projected it 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:00.639 would sell five million we use by the end of 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:04.359 fiscal year two thousand twelve. It had later adjusted that 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:08.800 prediction down to four million we use, but in fact 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:12.280 they only sold three point for five million, so they 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:15.840 were aiming for five. Said, maybe that was too ambitious, 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:18.639 Let's aim for four and still only hit three point 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:23.600 four five million. The company also experienced week sales with 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:26.760 the three D s which was performing lower than expected, 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:31.040 so things were looking pretty bleak across the board at 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.520 the E three that year. At two thousand three, Nintendo 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.040 actually said, you know what, We're not gonna hold a 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:39.399 press conference at E three the way we've done in 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:44.160 years past. Typically, when E three rolls around, the big 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:49.520 big companies like Microsoft and Sony and usually Nintendo each 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:52.760 hold their own press events, typically the day before or 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:56.679 two days before the show floor opens, and then you 0:18:56.720 --> 0:19:01.199 also get lots of the bigger name production companies like 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:05.679 EA or Bethesda doing their own events. Uh this was 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:07.600 the first time Nintendo said, you know what, we're gonna 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:10.320 gonna step out. We're not going to do a full 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:14.520 press event. Instead, they held a small Nintendo Direct event 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.960 before E three started. Now, Nintendo Direct events or things 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:23.159 that happened fairly regularly back when uh uh Watta was 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:27.080 the president. He would do these personally and uh so 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:29.639 it was kind of a way of telling people what 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:34.320 Nintendo was up to regularly throughout the year. But this 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:38.960 direct event started before E three. Uh but Nintendo did 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.680 go to E three. They had exhibition space on the floor, 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.560 so they were present. They just didn't hold a press event. 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:48.399 So you could go to E three if you were 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:51.840 part of the industry. E three is currently an industry 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:54.720 only event, so you could go to E three and 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:57.639 you could go to the Nintendo section and see what 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:00.240 they had to display, But they didn't have a big 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:04.480 press event unfolding all of that at E three. One 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:06.760 of the things they showed off at this Nintendo Direct 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:10.919 event was the We Party U, which allowed you to 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:13.960 use the w U game pad for tabletop style games. 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:17.439 They also showed off other games at E three. Not 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:21.760 all of these would be aimed for a release, so 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:26.320 they showed off Super Smash Brothers, Super Luigi U, Yoshi's 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:32.119 New Island, The Legend of Zelda, Windwalker HD, the Pokemon's 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:36.240 games X and Y, and yes, I know I'm saying 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:41.440 it wrong, and yes I know it's not funny. Moving on. Also, 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:45.840 they showed off Mario Kart eight. In August two thousand thirteen, 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.679 Nintendo announced that they had a new handhold console. They 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:53.679 were going to release the two d S, so they 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:55.960 were working backwards. The three d S had been out 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:58.439 for a couple of years. Now they're going to d S, 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:03.240 so the two DS is essentially a dumbed down three DS. 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:07.680 It has largely the same hardware, except it doesn't have 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:12.560 the three D screen. It has the two screens, and 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:15.080 it's also in a slate form factor. In other words, 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:18.760 it's a solid, almost tablet like form factor. It's just 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:22.600 a tablet that happens to have two screens separated by 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:26.760 by a bezel like a case. Uh. It doesn't close. 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:30.120 It's not a clamshell design like the other DS systems, 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:33.760 where it's it's solid. Some people like that and some 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:36.520 people hated it. I was indifferent because I have not 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:40.040 held had a handheld system and so long apart from 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:43.440 my phone, my phone is my handheld system. Actually, that's 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:46.560 a huge issue for Nintendo. So in the fall of 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:50.320 two thirteen, Nintendo purchased a twenty eight percent interest in 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:55.199 another company called p u X Corporation. Now pu X 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:59.359 Corporation started off as a division inside Pana Sonic, but 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:02.440 then panas On expund it off as its own company. 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:06.080 And what it does is work in voice and face 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:10.720 recognition software as well as audio and video processing. So 0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:13.960 again Nintendo is trying to beef up its ability to 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:16.600 deal with voice and face recognition. It tells you a 0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:19.000 little bit about the sort of stuff the company was 0:22:19.040 --> 0:22:23.320 thinking about developing into the future. So now we're up 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:26.640 to two thousand fourteen. Guess what didn't start off very 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:31.000 well at all. Reports of falling profits prompted Nintendo CEO 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:35.240 Wata to announce he would take a fifty percent cut 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:39.000 in his salary. He said, you know, if if the 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:42.760 company is doing this poorly, I cannot be rewarded for it. 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:46.919 So I will take a half cut in my salary. 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:49.879 I would make half as much this for the next 0:22:50.040 --> 0:22:53.840 six months or five months. Uh and other executives received 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:58.879 cuts in their salaries between twenty Wata he saved the 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:01.760 biggest cut for his own salary, and he said that 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:03.919 the reduction would last for five months and then the 0:23:03.920 --> 0:23:07.200 company would revisit the issue in June of two thousand fourteen. 0:23:08.480 --> 0:23:11.280 And this was a pretty interesting move. I like the move. 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:16.399 I like I like executives taking ownership for a company's performance, 0:23:16.440 --> 0:23:20.600 not doing well and saying, look, if if we are 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:25.000 rewarding ourselves at full salary, whether we're doing well or not, 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:29.399 where's the incentive to do well. Now you've created an 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:32.080 incentive to do well because you're not making nearly as 0:23:32.160 --> 0:23:36.800 much money. From April two thousand thirteen to December. Uh, 0:23:37.080 --> 0:23:39.560 the company had only sold two point four million we 0:23:39.840 --> 0:23:44.199 U units. Uh. Now, the company had adjusted protected sales 0:23:44.240 --> 0:23:47.600 from April two thousand thirteen to March two thousand fourteen. 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:51.760 Remember that's that's a fiscal year for Nintendo. April through March. 0:23:53.040 --> 0:23:57.080 They wanted to sell two point eight million units. Actually, 0:23:57.080 --> 0:23:59.160 that's that's how many. They sold. Two point eight million 0:23:59.240 --> 0:24:02.640 units from April two thousand thirteen to March two thousand fourteen. 0:24:03.480 --> 0:24:05.880 But that's not what they were hoping for. Originally, they 0:24:05.880 --> 0:24:11.359 were aiming to sell nine million units, so their goal 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:13.880 was nine million, and they hit two point eight million. 0:24:13.920 --> 0:24:16.440 They didn't even get thirty three percent of the way there. 0:24:17.440 --> 0:24:23.280 That is dreadful, dreadful performance. And the annual report was 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:26.840 pretty graham. It was the third straight year of losses 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:30.400 for a Nintendo. This time the damage came to four 0:24:30.480 --> 0:24:34.720 hundred fifty seven million dollars and losses. So still not 0:24:34.840 --> 0:24:38.120 as bad as two thousand eleven. That was five thirty two. 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:42.399 Two thousand twelve was three hundred sixty six something like that, 0:24:42.440 --> 0:24:48.240 and then two thousand thirteen was four hundred fifty seven million. Yikes. Now, 0:24:48.280 --> 0:24:52.360 at the two thousand fourteen E three, Nintendo again decided 0:24:52.400 --> 0:24:54.840 not to have a full press conference, and this was 0:24:54.880 --> 0:24:59.159