Latest news with #YahooJapan
Engadget
08-05-2025
- Business
- Engadget
Nintendo's Switch 2 sales forecast predicts 15 million consoles in its first fiscal year
Nintendo is throwing some cold water on Switch 2 sales estimates even though launch demand seems to be off the charts. In its latest earnings report, the company projected sales of 15 million Switch 2 units in its first year on sale to March 2026, fewer than analyst predictions of 16.8 million. It didn't explain the number but it's likely due to uncertainty around US tariffs and the fact that Nintendo is usually cautious with its forecasts. Switch 2 sales opened with a bang as resellers immediately sold out and the company said Nintendo Switch 2 pre orders may not arrive until after the June 5th launch. That shows there's a lot of pent-up demand for the new model following the Switch's eight year run, but last month Nintendo delayed pre-orders due to concerns over Trump's tariffs on electronic goods. Despite its fears (and buyer complaints about the $450 price tag), the company received 2.2 million applications for pre-orders in Japan alone, a number that Nintendo said "far exceeds our expectations." Speaking to investors after the earnings report was released, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furakawa cautioned that US tariffs are one area the company does not have control over. According to Yahoo Japan , Furakawa explained that Nintendo's current policy is to recognize the tariffs as a cost, but if additional tariffs necessitate a price increase in the US then demand in the country may fall. He also highlighted that rising prices of daily expenses and food could negatively impact customers' budgets for games. At present, the company expects 45 million Switch 2 games to be sold through the financial year. Nintendo has sold over 150 million Switch consoles to date, including 17.79 million in the first 13 months — so the Switch 2 is on a similar pace, even with the conservative estimates. In any case, it needs to have a great year as sales have fallen off a cliff (down 30.3 percent over last year), as one would expect with a new console imminent. Update, May 8, 2:30PM ET: This story was updated after publish to include comments from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furakawa on the potential future impacts of tariffs on Switch sales.
Tom's Guide
08-05-2025
- Business
- Tom's Guide
Nintendo Switch 2 — Nintendo president just admitted that prices could go up
Despite the clear popularity of the Nintendo Switch 2, the higher $450 starting price has been a sticking point for many, and it may get worse. After Nintendo's most recent earning's call, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa highlighted the company's priorities moving forward in a press conference reported by Yahoo Japan. He said that prices may rise depending on what happens with President Trump's tariffs. In other words, pre-ordering a Switch 2 is likely your best chance to lock in the current price. Furukawa said that Nintendo's goal is make the Switch 2 very popular. "The launch of Switch 2 and the early spread of the hardware are our top priorities," he said. With that will come an increase in marketing expenses, which Nintendo expects to make by selling more software (games). Regarding the tariffs, President Furukawa said, "Our basic policy is to recognize tariffs as a cost when determining sales prices in any country or region and to incorporate them into the price." He added that the company would consider a variety of factors, not just tariffs, when making pricing adjustments, but it sounds like if Trump's tariffs remain as is, pricing may go up. Nintendo apparently believes that tariffs and increased pricing could decrease demand in the United States. The company is also concerned that rising costs for "daily necessities" and food will impact people's budget for games, which will be even more of a luxury. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. With than in mind, Furukawa reiterated that selling games will be of utmost import to the company after "popularizing" the console. This is something Nintendo may be able to achieve thanks to an overhauled Mario Kart World and the intriguing Donkey Kong Bananza. Currently, Nintendo wants to sell at least 15 million Switch 2 consoles this year, the same number it sold of the original Switch when it launched in 2017. As we've seen with pre-orders, Nintendo has managed to make the Switch 2 fairly popular. In its home country of Japan, there have been over 2 million preorders. So much so that Nintendo has said that not every one will get a console on the June 5 release date. In his statement, Furukawa claimed that Nintendo has "strengthened our production system. We will make efforts to deliver it as soon as possible after the release date." Price increases have become an unfortunate trend for gaming this year. Xbox just announced price increases for the Series S and Series X, and the PlayStation 5 is more or less more expensive than it was at launch. And that's before we get to the games which are hitting an unfortunate $70 and $80 standard. Maybe, buying a Switch 2 now will save you money down the line. In our Switch 2 hands-on, we found the it to be a nice upgrade that's as fun as the original.
Japan Times
03-05-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
U.S. presses for Google to share data by citing Yahoo Japan deal
U.S. antitrust enforcers reached back to a deal Google struck 15 years ago to argue that the Alphabet unit should once again share information with third parties, this time to end its illegal monopoly of online search. Google's agreement in 2010 to provide Yahoo Japan with access to search index data applied only to Google's Japanese-language index, not its global index. But Justice Department lawyer David Dahlquist said in court Friday it showed Google had voluntarily shared data with others in the past. Google has been pushing back on the remedies proposed by the U.S. to address its search dominance — one of which is sharing search data with rivals. Google has claimed that would imperil user privacy and put its intellectual property at risk. The Yahoo deal was revisited as part of a three-week trial that will determine how Google should restore competition to online search after U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled last year that the tech giant had illegally maintained a monopoly in the market. In a separate antitrust case before a different judge, the Justice Department urged Friday that Google be ordered to sell key parts of its advertising technology to address a ruling that it illegally monopolizes much of the market for placing ads on the web. The government wants Google to divest itself of its Chrome browser, license some search data to competitors and stop paying for exclusive positions on other apps and devices. Google has countered that the government's proposals are too extreme, saying they would hurt American consumers and the economy, as well as weaken U.S. technological leadership. The document detailing the Yahoo accord was presented during cross-examination of Jesse Adkins, a Google director of product management for search syndication, who oversaw implementation of the agreement for a number of years. The deal called for Google to share document IDs, URLs, and various signals like popularity and spam scores. "You're aware, sir, that the Yahoo Japan agreement is actually the foundation for plaintiff's data-sharing remedy in this manner?' Dahlquist asked as he walked Adkins through the different points of the agreement in court. "I will take your word for it,' Adkins responded. Google has long had a relationship with Yahoo Japan, a service unrelated to the U.S.-based Yahoo search engine, to provide it with search results and some backend work related to search advertising. During questioning, Google's lawyer sought to clarify that the tech giant had agreed to share portions of its Japanese-language search index solely to have Yahoo Japan assess the quality of Google's search results and provide feedback to Google. Adkins also testified that Yahoo Japan needed the data that Google shared to make sure that Google's search results complied with local laws, for instance around properly classifying adult websites. The agreement evolved over time, Adkins said, with Google later providing a more limited set of data to Yahoo Japan in real-time rather than the bulk data dumps it had in the past. Google's next witness was Eric Muhlheim, the chief financial officer of Mozilla, who discussed the importance of its partnership with the search giant for its revenue model. Last year, Mozilla — maker of the popular Firefox browser — brought in $570 million, Muhlheim testified. Of that revenue, 85% came from Google, which pays Mozilla for an exclusive position on the Firefox browser. In the short term, Muhlheim said, Mozilla's U.S. revenue would "drop precipitously' if the company were forced to switch to a different provider for Firefox's built-in search engine and no longer received compensation from Google under its longstanding revenue-sharing agreement. "The ensuing hole in our revenue would have to be overcome by pretty significant cost cuts across the business,' Muhlheim said. The remedy would also decrease the amount of money the company could invest in its own software and make it less competitive, he added. It could "start a downward spiral of usage as people defected from a browser, which could at the end of the day put Firefox out of business,' he said. If Google were barred from paying for an exclusive position on Mozilla's Firefox browser, Muhlheim testified, the company would be on the lookout for alternatives. "But we'd really be struggling in the meantime,' he said. In the last year, Muhlheim said the company has explored other options, including discussions with Microsoft about its Bing web browser taking the Mozilla's default search engine slot. But ultimately, Mozilla's assessment was that Bing wouldn't monetize as well as Google. Muhlheim added that he thought Microsoft could reduce the amount of revenue it was willing to share with Mozilla over time if it were the only strong competitor for the search engine browser slot. In a telling exchange near the end of Muhlheim's testimony, Mehta asked whether Mozilla would benefit from having "at least one other competitor' besides Google with equal quality of service competing for the search engine slot in the Firefox browser. Muhlheim answered that this would be a "better' world for Mozilla. "Do you believe that the market conditions that exist today could achieve the outcome that you're talking about either in the short term or the long term?' Mehta asked. "In some ways, it's hard to know, because AI is coming in. One could imagine that the amount of funding and the way people are working' in AI would create that world, Muhlheim responded. "So I don't think it's out of the question.'
Mint
02-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
US Presses for Google to Share Data by Citing Yahoo Japan Deal
US antitrust enforcers reached back to a deal Google struck 15 years ago to argue that the Alphabet Inc. unit should once again share information with third parties, this time to end its illegal monopoly of online search. Google's agreement in 2010 to provide Yahoo Japan with access to search index data applied only to Google's Japanese-language index, not its global index. But Justice Department lawyer David Dahlquist said in court Friday it showed Google had voluntarily shared data with others in the past. Google has been pushing back on the remedies proposed by the US to address its search dominance — one of which is sharing search data with rivals. Google has claimed that would imperil user privacy and put its intellectual property at risk. The Yahoo deal was revisited as part of a three-week trial that will determine how Google should restore competition to online search after US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled last year that the tech giant had illegally maintained a monopoly in the market. In a separate antitrust case before a different judge, the Justice Department urged Friday that Google be ordered to sell key parts of its advertising technology to address a ruling that it illegally monopolizes much of the market for placing ads on the web. The government wants Google to divest itself of its Chrome browser, license some search data to competitors and stop paying for exclusive positions on other apps and devices. Google has countered that the government's proposals are too extreme, saying they would hurt American consumers and the economy, as well as weaken US technological leadership. The document detailing the Yahoo accord was presented during cross-examination of Jesse Adkins, a Google director of product management for search syndication, who oversaw implementation of the agreement for a number of years. The deal called for Google to share document IDs, URLs, and various signals like popularity and spam scores. 'You're aware, sir, that the Yahoo Japan agreement is actually the foundation for plaintiff's data-sharing remedy in this manner?' Dahlquist asked as he walked Adkins through the different points of the agreement in court. 'I will take your word for it,' Adkins responded. Google has long had a relationship with Yahoo Japan, a service unrelated to the US-based Yahoo search engine, to provide it with search results and some backend work related to search advertising. During questioning, Google's lawyer sought to clarify that the tech giant had agreed to share portions of its Japanese-language search index solely to have Yahoo Japan assess the quality of Google's search results and provide feedback to Google. Adkins also testified that Yahoo Japan needed the data that Google shared to make sure that Google's search results complied with local laws, for instance around properly classifying adult websites. The agreement evolved over time, Adkins said, with Google later providing a more limited set of data to Yahoo Japan in real-time rather than the bulk data dumps it had in the past. Google's next witness was Eric Muhlheim, the chief financial officer of Mozilla, who discussed the importance of its partnership with the search giant for its revenue model. Last year, Mozilla — maker of the popular Firefox browser — brought in $570 million, Muhlheim testified. Of that revenue, 85% came from Google, which pays Mozilla for an exclusive position on the Firefox browser. In the short term, Muhlheim said, Mozilla's US revenue would 'drop precipitously' if the company were forced to switch to a different provider for Firefox's built-in search engine and no longer received compensation from Google under its longstanding revenue-sharing agreement. 'The ensuing hole in our revenue would have to be overcome by pretty significant cost cuts across the business,' Muhlheim said. The remedy would also decrease the amount of money the company could invest in its own software and make it less competitive, he added. It could 'start a downward spiral of usage as people defected from a browser, which could at the end of the day put Firefox out of business,' he said. If Google were barred from paying for an exclusive position on Mozilla's Firefox browser, Muhlheim testified, the company would be on the lookout for alternatives. 'But we'd really be struggling in the meantime,' he said. In the last year, Muhlheim said the company has explored other options, including discussions with Microsoft Corp. about its Bing web browser taking the Mozilla's default search engine slot. But ultimately, Mozilla's assessment was that Bing wouldn't monetize as well as Google. Muhlheim added that he thought Microsoft could reduce the amount of revenue it was willing to share with Mozilla over time if it were the only strong competitor for the search engine browser slot. In a telling exchange near the end of Muhlheim's testimony, Mehta asked whether Mozilla would benefit from having 'at least one other competitor' besides Google with equal quality of service competing for the search engine slot in the Firefox browser. Muhlheim answered that this would be a 'better' world for Mozilla. 'Do you believe that the market conditions that exist today could achieve the outcome that you're talking about either in the short term or the long term?' Mehta asked. 'In some ways, it's hard to know, because AI is coming in. One could imagine that the amount of funding and the way people are working' in AI would create that world, Muhlheim responded. 'So I don't think it's out of the question.' This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. First Published: 3 May 2025, 01:13 AM IST
Bloomberg
02-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
US Presses for Google to Share Data by Citing Yahoo Japan Deal
US antitrust enforcers reached back to a deal Google struck 15 years ago to argue that the Alphabet Inc. unit should once again share information with third parties, this time to end its illegal monopoly of online search. Google's agreement in 2010 to provide Yahoo Japan with access to search index data applied only to Google's Japanese-language index, not its global index. But Justice Department lawyer David Dahlquist said in court Friday it showed Google had voluntarily shared data with others in the past.
