Nintendo has today published its financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year (fiscal years tend to operate differently to the Gregorian calendar, technically making this Q1 2013), which ends on March 31st, 2014. Among the results are the confirmation of the original Wii as the clear winner last generation, with lifetime sales exceeding 100 million units. The 3DS continues to perform well, with gamers buying more games for the system than the same time the previous year.
But the most alarming thing about Nintendo’s documentation is its Wii U sales figures. The Wii U only sold 160,000 units worldwide, with 90k coming from Japan, 60k coming from the Americas, and only 10k coming from “other” (which we assume covers the entirety of Europe). This is slightly unnerving for a console only 8 months into its life.
Should we be worried? Well, despite the air of doom and gloom surrounding Nintendo’s latest machine, the Mario-maker could still reel in the numbers this Xmas season with games such as The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, Sonic Lost World, Super Mario 3D World and some 3rd party games as well; the machine is getting versions of Call of Duty: Ghosts and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag this year.
Also, bear in mind that these figures come from before the release of Pikmin 3, Earthbound, and the very-close-to-release Wonderful 101 from Platinum games.
And let’s not forget the potential future the console has. New Smash Bros. as well as the exclusive Bayonetta 2 means it’s probably still too early to start ringing the death knell for the machine. Nintendo still has some highly respected franchises to pull out of its hat too, including Metroid, Donkey Kong, and a whole host of others (we can also pretty much guarantee that when the inevitable day comes that the machine sees its own brand new HD 3D Zelda title the machine will see a sales spike).
So, what do you think? Is the Wii U doomed or will it be saved by the right game? Join the discussion in the comments below.