According to a report by Bloomberg, which pulls in various predictions given by industry analysts, Nintendo is shaping up to have a much better year than anyone expected. Multiple analysts have raised their predictions as far as how much profit Nintendo looks to take in, with the latest estimates putting Nintendo at triple their previous level with 36.8 billion yen. The reason for these raised expectations should be obvious to any gamer, with Nintendo launching many big name franchises that resulted in fantastic response from both critics and consumers.
Such results would mark a vindication of sorts for President Satoru Iwata,
Super Smash Bros. for both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, along with Mario Kart 8 are cited as the biggest software saviors for the company. These games not only sold well in the US, but also back home in Japan. They were also of a high enough quality that hardware sales were impacted as well, with some areas seeing over 100% gains in Wii U sales following the release of Mario Kart 8. A similar, if smaller bump is expected this holiday season thanks to Super Smash Bros for Wii U.Â
Along with great software came Nintendo’s foray into the collectible figure arena that was previously dominated by Skylanders and recently attacked by Disney Infinity. Amiibo look to be a huge success so far, with some models selling out in many locations. Nintendo has predicted that they will take in $1 billion in the US, simply from Amiibo.
All of this comes at a time when Nintendo has been heavily questioned on their continued strategy of releasing their games only on their own consoles. Some have wondered if they might do better releasing games for other consoles, or PC and having their handheld properties available on smart phones. As Bloomberg says, these results “would mark a vindication of sorts for President Satoru Iwata.”
Published: Dec 8, 2014 08:15 am