Nintendo has reported a near $25 million loss for the 6 month period ending September 30th. Sales of the Nintendo DS (handheld, modern-day game boy) are down roughly 45% from the previous year, and Wii sales are down about not quite as much, a little less than 10% (from 5.75 million to 4.97 million).
To compensate for these diminishing sales and lost revenues, Nintendo plans on releasing a 3DS, which will be an improved version of the DS, but it will produce a 3D screen without the need for 3D glasses - projecting holographs. However, this new console will not be available sometime in 2011, and will likely be fairly expensive.
Similar to trends I noticed last week in my blog regarding "20 Dying Technologies", many gamers are reporting playing games on their Smartphones. Once again, in the world of iPhones, Droids, and Blackberry Torches, people want their cell phones, cameras, entertainment, music all CONSOLIDATED. It seems that consolidation is key to survive in the next generation of technological entertainment.
Nintendo should take Sony's lead and begin developing video games that are able to be played through Smartphones, securing a market share of this blossoming. It could achieve even higher profit margins by selling separate gaming equipment to play the games on the Smartphones.
Nintendo is a video game electronics company, so developing and implementing this modified software would not be straying very far from its core competency. Either way, Nintendo needs to act and adapt soon, because in 10 years nearly all video games will be played either through consumers HDTVs with NO consoles, or through their Smartphones.
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