A failing Nintendo needs to shake things up tomorrow, analysts say

Nintendo earnings report tomorrow could be a pivotal moment in the company's history.

For the first time ever, according to Reuters, Nintendo will be explaining to investors why it has an operating loss. A massive operating loss.

The news here isn't that the company spent an estimated 45 billion yen more than they made in its last fiscal year, it's what it will be doing about it.

Reuters rounded up a selection of analysts to explain the challenges Nintendo faces in either explaining away its problems or solving them.

The ubiquity of gaming seems to be the biggest issue facing the company. Gamers don't just game on a couch anymore; they game in cars, on trains, planes, beds and, yes, even on toilets. (In fact, according to one survey, five percent of 15,000 gamers polled said they game on a toilet.) While Nintendo has portable devices, the DS and 3DS, it hasn't created a system that allows gamers to switch easily between their portable offerings and their at-home one. The Wii U, due out later this year, apparently won't address that issue either.

That new console, which one analyst estimates will cost as much as $350 for Nintendo to break even, could also be a big problem, courting a demographic that isn't really there anymore, according to Reuters.

Another issue is that Nintendo still tightly maintains exclusivity of its popular brands, cutting away at potential cash it could earn from, say, bringing Mario to the iPhone.

The solutions that analysts suggest include some unpalatable ideas, like opening up Nintendo's brands, perhaps doing that by getting rid of the company's leadership.

It's unclear if Nintendo is ready to address the issues it faces during tomorrow's investor call, but change has to come soon, according to the report. Nintendo can't, as one analyst put it, still make a bet that its hardware will sell.

Be sure to check back here for our report on the investor call tomorrow.