Nintendo president slashes paycheque in half, shoulders blame for poor company performance

It's not uncommon for a CEO or president to step up and say, "It was my bad this company is performing poorly." But for them to put their money where their mouth is? That's a rarity.

Which makes the news that Nintendo president Satoru Iawa intends to slash his paycheque outstanding. Obviously, he'll still be making plenty of money, but no one should scoff at a 50-percent cut—that's substantial no matter which way you slice it. Satoru openly accepts the blame for Nintendo's first ever quarterly loss and weakened future prospects, and that takes balls.

Satoru will also cut other executives paycheques by as much as 30 percent, according to AllThingsDigital. And while salary slashing isn't enough to stem the bleeding, it will help, and it also sends the right message to investors and consumers alike—Nintendo fat cats aren't just in it for the money. They want Nintendo to succeed.

Sarotu is taking other measures too. Nintendo has axed the price of its 3DS console from $250 to just $170, making it virtually unprofitable in the near-term. But he hopes that higher sales wil later translate into lower production costs. Additionally, a ramp-up of game launches is expected for the console that currently has a very meagre library of titles, one of the major factors being attributed to its poor performance.

Now on a local level, can RIM's two CEOs admit some wrongs and act responsible?