Before Mario Kart 8 was released, there were certainly concerns about Nintendo’s addition to the current generation of consoles. In all ways the Wii U was floundering; with only a handful of new titles to shift units and third party developers shunning them as usual, things looked bleak for the former giants of the video games industry.
However recently Nintendo has released data that shows favourable figures. 2.82 million copies of Mario Kart 8 have been sold worldwide which roughly equates to 42% of all WiiU console owners having bought the latest installment of the very popular kart racing franchise. Things aren’t all clear for Nintendo just yet though, in the first fiscal quarter of this year (April – June) they have lost roughly $97 million, which is a disaster when compared with the same quarter of the previous year. However Nintendo fans have no need to start panicking just yet, as the company still project a gross positive net income of $196 million for this year.
As ever it seems that Nintendo are having to rely heavily on their tried and tested series to support their flagging consoles. Mario Kart 8 has gone some way to repair the damage and undoubtedly Nintendo will be looking to their other first party titles to prop up their deficit. On the up side, E3 provoked interest in the upcoming Wii U Zelda title and a new Smash Bros. game is always hotly anticipated.
Can Link save Hyrule AND Nintendo?This time round however, Nintendo are further helped by the resurgence of competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee. The fact that the game has now featured at Evolution, the world’s biggest fighting game tournament, for two years in a row is testament to the fact that interest in the Smash Bros. series is as high as ever. Nintendo have also helped this with great marketing such as their showing at the San Diego Comic Con and their E3 Invitational Tournament. With Hyrule Warriors and Bayonetta 2 also generating interest, Nintendo seemed doomed once again to carry their hardware on the back of a few stellar titles.
Really what this means for Nintendo is more of the same. Once again third party publishers and developers have turned their back on the company. This has meant that Nintendo has to rely on their 20 year old series to shift units, with very little else to aid them. However it does seem like Nintendo are struggling along alright for the time being, but should any of of the aforementioned titles flop then the former giants of the video games industry could be in dire straits.
Credit to Game Informer for the extraction of the figures
sources for figures are found here and here
