Today in Tokyo, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata addressed shareholders regarding the Nintendo 3DS. For Nintendo, things have been better.
At Today's meeting, Iwata said the goal was to address questions why Nintendo cut the 3DS's price. In an official release from Nintendo detailing the meeting, Iwata acknowledged that the price reduction does help retailers plan for the end-of-year sales period as well as keep game developers on board with the 3DS. Iwata repeatedly stressed the importance of games.
The 3DS has been subject to numerous game cancelations.
Iwata said he is taking responsibility for the 3DS, which translates into a cut in his paycheck. "For cuts in fixed salaries, I'm taking a fifty percent cut, other representative directors are taking a 30 percent cut, and other execs are taking a 20 percent cut," said Iwata.
As Kotaku previously posted, former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi just lost half a billion dollars. In one day.
Iwata isn't one of the highest paid CEOs (especially compared with American CEOs), with Iwata making the equivalent of around US$2 million. Shigeru Miyamoto earns around $1.2 million.
At the end of Nintendo release detailing Iwata's remarks, Nintendo wrote that it would publish the Q&A at a later date. Tokyo-based analyst David Gibson from Macquarie Securities was in attendance during the Q&A. Gibson wrote that Nintendo stated there was a missed opportunity with giving the GameCube a price-cut. This influenced Nintendo's decision to move quickly on cutting the 3DS's price.
According to Nintendo, the 3DS must offer an experience that mobile phones cannot offer. Iwata did apparently admit that the 3DS is not profitable at this reduced price, but added that costs would go down once output picks up.
Nintendo is looking to further expand into the digital realm, and the company said it had been moving into the digital arena through trial-and-error. This is apparently why the 3DS and Wii U place emphasis on digital downloads and content.
Iwata apparently reiterated that Nintendo has no plans to sell its games to other non-Nintendo platforms.
In a recent letter, Iwata wrote at this current time, it's necessary to make a "big change" to alter the state of affairs.
"We decided that if we take brave measures now," Iwata wrote, "there's high likelihood that a many players can enjoy the Nintendo 3DS in the future."
任天堂・岩田社長の役員報酬も50％値下げ [Kotaku Japan]
(Top photo: 任天堂)
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