It seems that Nintendo is slowly, but surely, turning things around in a big way. To show how big of a turnaround year, the gaming giant recently announced it grossed its first annual profit since 2011. It has been three years since Nintendo managed to have an annual profit in sales. The profit included an operating profit of $207 million and a net profit of $350 million. In addition, the Wii U has claimed as high as 9.54 million units and has sold 340,000 units in the last three months. Are those numbers a far cry from Xbox One and PlayStation 4 sales? Yes, but despite the fact that the chips were down for Nintendo, these recent profit sales are proof that even in the 2010s, Nintendo can turn lemons into lemonade.
A big part of Nintendo’s failure to break even for three years was due to the slow sales for the Nintendo Wii U. The console simply did not have enough third party support. I also believe the console suffered because it was released on the market too early without a strong library of titles to back it up. However, in the last year, those titles have come out strong for the Wii U in the form of games such as Bayonetta 2, Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros. Wii U and Hyrule Warriors. The New 3DS XL released this year also seems to be doing well. Amiibo has been an absolute juggernaut for Nintendo. While I would not say Nintendo was on death’s door, the company definitely rolled up its sleeves, tightened its belt and showed that it would not go out quietly.
As a gamer, there is a special place in my heart for the Nintendo brand, characters and games. So it makes me especially happy for some momentum to shift back to Nintendo as of late. I imagine that while some sales probably did not meet certain projections, Nintendo can take away something positive here in the form of a win from the annual profits. This gives Nintendo a lot more positive momentum, along with publicity, as the company heads into the Electronic Entertainment Expo next month. The Nintendo booth is usually one of my favorite stops of the show, and my experience at E3 will not be complete until I get to try out Star Fox for the Wii U at the convention. Star Fox is one of my favorite Nintendo franchises, so I am happy to see it finally making a glorious Wii U debut.
I know that the team behind The Legend of Zelda Wii U game has said the title will not be previewed at E3. While Nintendo has made this statement publicly, I am not sure it is true. Sometimes, corporations make public misleading statements to try and make events like this more of a surprise. The game cannot stay hidden forever. In addition, with more strong-looking titles with Splatoon and Yoshi’s Wooly World, I expect much of Nintendo’s momentum to continue throughout 2015. Plus more Amiibos are being made, and they are selling like hotcakes.
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