Nintendo is back in the black

It looks Nintendo won’t be going third party just yet, as Bloomberg reports their best year of profits since the launch of the Wii U.

We’re not going to say we don’t believe a source as prestigious as Bloomberg, but… we don’t believe them. We’re pretty sure when they say amiibos will make $1 billion in the US this year they actually mean ¥1 billion. But considering that’s $8.2 million it’s still a huge achievement for something that only launched at the end of last month.

What doesn’t seem up for debate is that Nintendo’s profits are set to increase to their highest point for three years, i.e. since before the launch of the Wii U.



Nintendo usually always makes a profit no matter how well or badly their games and hardware sell, but the last few years have broken that tradition – and even just last year they lost ¥23.2 billion ($193 million).


But thanks to the release of Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, and the launch of the Skylanders-like amiibo toys, Bloomberg reports that at least eight analysts have raised profit ratings to ¥36.8 billion ($303 million) – triple that of previous estimates.

The news is being seen as a vindication for president and CEO Satoru Iwata, whose position was rumoured to be under threat thanks to the poor results and calls for Nintendo to make smartphone games.

The turnaround started following the release of Mario Kart 8 on Wii U, with a surprise quarterly profit announcement in October that sent stock up by 25 per cent. Although thanks to their heavy foreign investments Nintendo profits are always dependent on the price of the yen as much as their own performance.

What this means for Nintendo’s long term future though is unclear, especially in terms of the lifetime of the Wii U and 3DS. The Wii U already has a very strong line-up for next year, including a new Zelda and Star Fox (as demonstrated at The Game Awards at the weekend), Splatoon, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Kirby And The Rainbow Curse, Mario Party 10, Yoshi’s Woolly World, Devil’s Third, and Xenoblade Chronicles X.

Currently though there is nothing that is known to be planned for 2016 or beyond, and the Wii U will already be three years old next Christmas. The 3DS will be over four years old by that point though, which is approaching the average five year lifespan for Nintendo consoles.

Although it’s widely assumed that a successor to the 3DS will be announced first Nintendo has hinted that it’s next hardware platforms will use the same operating system, similar to iPhone and iPad.

As is typical though they’ve been purposefully vague about their plans, and their initial hardware priority is likely to be the Quality of Life (QoL) concept, which was recently revealed to involve a sleep and fatigue sensor.

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