Even though the article that this Did You Know Gaming is based on is almost two years old, I don’t believe it’s possible that Nintendo already burned through the 812.8 billion Yen (£6.7/$10.5 billion) in cash they had on hand since then. Just a hunch.
source: Did You Know Gaming?
March 20, 2014 at 4:45 pm #
If Nintendo is just sitting on 10 billion worth of cash, that’s a problem. Funds need to be reinvested into the firm. No wonder they’re losing money. That being said, with the economy being what it is, interest rates are low; if they wanted safe investments and just flushed the cash into safe assets (usually treasury bonds in the US-I’m not sure what it is in Japan), the rate of return is pretty low. And actually, because such securities are considered to be highly liquid, it’s entirely possible that those securities are actually included in the 10 billion number.
March 20, 2014 at 8:59 pm #
I am reminded of a famous quote from Citizen Kane.
“You’re right, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I’ll have to close this place in… 60 years.”
March 20, 2014 at 9:57 pm #
RND cost a lot. While they may still have a bit of money in the back, it surely won’t last that long. If their next console is a flop too, they may need to retire.
March 21, 2014 at 6:57 am #
I will say, I would not want to be in a world without Nintendo, technically neither would Sony or Microsoft. Both are often so afraid to take risk, and Nintendo while being safe in some ways is crazy in others and someone has to take a chance. Similar to how Apple doesn’t actually innovate anymore (if they ever REALLY did) because they wait for someone else to test the market on an idea and gauge interest before making their own (the iWatch people are waiting for anyone?)
Personally I wonder if Nintendo hasn’t tried the VR thing SIMPLY because they don’t want to remind anyone of the Virtual Boy but i wonder if they haven’t been working on one internally…
March 21, 2014 at 11:09 am #
I’m sure they will try it again. Just look at how long it took them for their 2nd attempt at motion controls.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Glove for those who don’t remember or are not old enough to remember.
Although it looks like Sony is going to beat them to the punch on VR.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4-s-project-morpheus-vr-device-won-t-launch-in-2014-1000-price-point-unlikely/1100-6418418/
March 21, 2014 at 2:49 pm #
You do realize that powerglove wasn’t made by Nintendo, right?