While the Xbox One and PS4 are busy endlessly patching their AAA titles, slashing prices on consoles and fueling a never-ending graphical arms race, Nintendo slowly chugs along. But as the old fable goes, slow and steady wins the race, and Nintendo is looking more and more like a winner this holiday season.
Weekly Nintendo eShop Update Is All About Pokemon And Smash Bros
Look, we all overlooked the Wii U. You did. I did. Even people who own Wii Us sometimes forget they have them. But Nintendo never stopped believing. They were content to let the bigger kids destroy themselves and then swoop in to pick up the pieces.
The Wii U launched a year ahead of both PS4 and Xbox One to little fanfare. Despite the enormous lead time, the system has only sold around 7.5 million units; compared to the Xbox One's 10 and PS4's 13 million. So, it is with great pleasure to hear that Nintendo is poised to move a lot of product this winter.
Lucario Pokemon Amiibo Announced!
Fortune magazine has a great write-up on the resurgence of the House That Mario Built.
"There hasn't been much good news to report regarding Nintendo's financial situation since the company's historic annual loss way back in the 2011 to 2012 period," Michael Pachter, a video game analyst for Wedbush Securities said. "That may be changing. Strong sales of new Wii U and 3DS software helped raise the company to a surprising quarterly profit of 24.2 billion yen (about $224 million) in net income for the three months ending September 2014. That's quite a turnaround after a loss of over eight billion yen (about $74.2 million) in the same period last year."
What's stunning is that Nintendo has accomplished this turnaround with barely any third party support (Bayonetta 2 is the only one the comes to mind as an exclusive AAA title for the system) and without having to resort to price cuts on the system. "Instead, the company has offered a variety of bundles to entice gamers to buy its console. Rival Microsoft has already resorted to price drops this year; unsurprisingly, Microsoft and Sony have introduced competing bundles for the holiday shopping season."
Plus more Amiibos, more 3DS titles, more everything!
Nintendo always does this. They underperform, they shy away from the spotlight and we give up on them. But they never give up on us. At the end of the day, they know that it's not stunning Uncanny Valley-esque graphics that drive the majority of gamers; it's not uber-violence or action, it's fun. These are video GAMES.
We might sometimes forget that, but Nintendo never, ever does.
