Nintendo's Holiday Sales and Profit Set to be "Best in Years"

So they are going to sale 100 million amiibo in the US? This figure is wrong it must be one billion yen

It's meant to be a billion Yen! Not dollars, same on ign.

@maneauleau was thinking the exact same thing, on what planet would that be possible given the install base of the Wii U and N3DS?

Great news! 2015 will be just as successful, it seems.

@readyletsgo No, it's not in yen. The 1 billion dollars is the value of the whole smart toy market (also including Disney Infinity and Skylanders). Reggie's quote was misused by Bloombergs.
https://twitter.com/Emi1yRogers/status/541764262730149888

Good news but let's face it, Nintendo has had a low benchmark over the last few years...

@jariw well that makes more sense.

A billion dollars from Amiibo just sounds totally wrong lol

Michael Pachter on the other hand...

Yeah I am kind of doubtful on those profit margins but we will see!

I want Nintendo to make bumper profits to offset any losses they made earlier in the year but I don't see the Amiibo selling anywhere near those numbers, perhaps they can get a good selling figure internationally but not in North America alone.

@justastone ...Is a tosser who has never known what he's talking about.

@jariw - Well that makes sense especially w/ Activision claiming Skylanders alone had $1 billion in just it's first 15 months.

http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=739250

I'm guessing amiibo will be a very very infinitesimally small part of that $1 billion this holiday.
"Best in years"

Considering how poorly the Wii was doing it's last year or 2 w/ almost no games except the JRPG from Operation Rainfall and the Wii U had a bad first 2 years it wouldn't take much for them to have their best year in the last four or five.

Here's a question: what's better, to have a small Wii U install base where rabid fans buy lots of games and Amiibos, or the Xbox One that's being sold under it's development costs and costing even more to adapt to it's consumers need, only for a large percentage to be used to play only COD or FIFA?

Amiibo is merely the capitalisation of Nintendo's core fans.

It won't be long before SONY tries to jump into the market I bet failing miserably at it like every idea they copy.
On the other hand Nintendo should make more games that use all characters, not only Smash.

@MrGawain The Wii U sales at a lost too you know? Reason why they decided to not price drop it, they already lose (to my understanding) $100 per system, and amiibo not only work for games, they are collectible pieces for old fans and toys for new fans, not to mention the Wii U has games now and whoever doesn't sees that its just in denial.

@MrGawain It's points like this that make me sometimes wish I could "like" comments (à la Facebook)

Well, with that Zelda game, and Star Fox, Xenoblade and Mario Maker, next year should be pretty good for them as well.

@shinokami

I highly doubt they lose on their systems now, the hardware you can get for them would be pretty cheap now after 2 years. If they are losing on systems, it would be the same as it was before where they lose on the systems and then make an overall profit after 1 game.

@shinokami But the First Party Games and amiibo close the gap and takes Wii U from sold at a loss, to having software that helps make it profitable. Microsoft don't really have much First Party IPs where Xbox One will sell at a loss, with software helping it to become profitable...

The Amiibo was a god send to Nintendo,they knew those figures will make them money alot of it!

Wii u is amazing but amiibos are poopoodoodoocacapoopledoople. Hope they failand I hope wii u gets the sales it deserves, more than xbox and ps4 for sure.

@platoonleaderg You do know that amiibos are optional, right? And besides what's wrong with the thing? If you think it's like a skylander thing, then you got the wrong idea.

@LazyGamer who says it wont be in the future after its success? I dont trust it.

@platoonleaderg What's 'poopoodoodoocacapoopledoople' about Amiibo? Explain

@RedDevilAde @maneauleau remember that many people buy around 5-10 amiibos ... not only one ....

Also remember that WiiU or 3DS install base mean nothing. You could not have either console and still buy amiibos for collecting.

Until Nintendo divulge (impressive or otherwise) numbers, the above is my stance on the analyst's pov.

Well they do need to focus on keeping all the amiibo line up in stock. It won't do them any good if people can't find the amiibo they want to buy.

@CamWFC91 Don't worry, he just hates almost everything

I am so surprised smash bros did not pick up more wii u console sales as it got 98% on most reviews and beat all ps4 and xbox games hands down.

@shigulicious

uh. theyve been out for like two weeks...

@Nintendo_Ninja

Successful compared to Nintendo's 2013 sales, maybe. Not compared to anything else.

@Luna-Harmony

Smash Bros Wii U Metacritic: 92%

Grand Theft Auto V (XBO/PS4) Metacritic: 97%

Both of your points are incorrect.

@LetsGoRetro I was implying predicted total sales of the lifetime of the amiibos, not current sales figures.

@Quorthon OK what ever you say Mr.negative.

@Luna-Harmony
It's not just Smash Bros scoring off the charts on Metacritic- Bayonetta 2, Captain Toad, Mario Kart 8... There's been numerous games this year scoring off the charts.

Just goes to show people don't actually care about great games. They just care about "great games that are socially accepted and politically correct by releasing on the popular consoles of the day".

I'm curious when Warner will get into the toys to life space. They have DC, Looney Tunes, and Hanna Barbara. They also have a few decent software houses.

@platoonleaderg I don't think Amiibo will ever be mandatory.

Personally, I think the Amiibo figures are awesome and I can't wait to get one. (I want that Shulk one). I certainly hope all of the consoles succeed and I hope the Amiibo figures stick around for a while.

@JaxonH

Weeeeee have a winner boys and girls

@JaxonH Correction: "They just care about games that make them look cool".

@Hy8ogen I wouldn't label everyone, but there is a significant number who only have interest in playing socially accepted, popular franchises that get heavily advertised. And that's not to say that all heavily advertised games are inherently bad, but if you're only interested in what marketing dictates to you, your scope of enjoyment is going to be severely limited.

@Quorthon
People are already bored with GTA 5. SSB4 is an instant classic that will be enjoyed for years.
SMASH IS THE SOUL OF NINTENDO TRAMPLING GAMES THAT WANT TO BE REALISTIC INSTEAD OF FUN!

GTA lives on Wii-U, aka Lego City. Sans the violence, drug deals, and T&A, of course!

Might be an idea to make those limited amiibo more readily available then

Well I do plan on purchasing a Wii U and Link Amiibo this year so it really doesn't surprise me. ;3

@jaxonH It's probably closer to the fact that people have different tastes. And a lot of the time people like to play games with their friends, so obviously if all their friends are buying a console, then the person will be more inclined to buy that console as well. The fact is, unless you are fan of Nintendo, the Wii U is an extremely hard sell. I love Nintendo and the Wii U has been a hard sell for me. But after watching Aunuma-san playing the new Zelda game there was no way I could put it off any longer.

@beautifulstrong
Don't make me laugh, they'll both be remembered. Especially the one that's outsold SSB.

@beautifulstrong

People are already bored of Smash as well. What's your screaming fanboy point? Lots of games get played for years. Like Smash Melee. But not Brawl.

GTAV is also, purportedly, destroying Smash in sales. It would seem that the number of people you think are bored with it is a lot smaller than you blindly claim.

@Nintendobro

Denying reality is not being positive. It's being delusional. Nintendo's winter sales may indeed be their best in years--because the last 2~4 years sucked pretty badly. The Wii was a lingering corpse for it's last winter on the market, and the first two winters for the Wii U were dismal to say the least.

Even doing well, Nintendo isn't doing as well as Microsoft or Sony.

Reality. Denying it does not make you positive and understanding it does not make me negative. It makes me rational, and you potentially delusional.

@thatguyEZ The friend thing is true for many. So Wii U is a hard sell if you don't know how good the games are. Once you actually play some of the games on Wii U and discover how fun they are, the system sells itself. Most people who have a hard time finding a reason I buy a Wii U, don't fully grasp just how fun games the games are. Probably because (contrary to popular belief) a lot of them are franchises they are unfamiliar with. Pikmin 3, DKC Tropical Freeze, Wonderful 101, heck even the Mario games and Zelda, a lot of people have simply never played.

<sarcasm > How can this be? Everyone said Nintendo was going the way of Sega < /sarcasm>

Well with all the great stuff they've released this year I would certainly hope so

@Quorthon again why do you say that I am delusional? You sound just like those shareholders at Nintendo never ever satisfied. It's their job to spoil little good news that comes around.

@Nintendobro

I didn't say you were delusional. I said that if you are denying reality and thinking you're being positive, that would make you potentially delusional. And if the shareholders are never satisfied, I'd say that's pretty troubling.

@billychaos

Sega still had moments of success as they largely spiraled out of the hardware business. And Nintendo is saying best profits in years--on the end of two years of negative profits.

Otherwise known as losses. They can spin a gross income of $1 as better profits in years based on that information.

@Quorthon that's because they never are. Being real is one thing but saying things like they are "slowly becoming irrelevant" or that they should copy what others are doing it is pushing it and go with the "trends" and that is getting a little redundant.

@electrolite77 I don't even go to look at scores of a game to tell me what is bad and good. The only way to know is to play the games yourself. Plus people in those put in bogus excuses in those scores.

@electrolite77 It's not just about being good games though. It's about being good games that are different than the blue ocean of AAA. Some people (multi console gamers) want something different on offer while others may just have different taste and aren't into the modern AAA title. There's a lot of high-scoring games on the other consoles (I play many of them) but they all fit the same bill- humanoid protagonist in a real world environment, some type of gun or weapon or physical combat involved, serious storyline, etc (and not every game checks every box, but most games will check 5 out of 6 boxes following the same blueprint) Or, games that mimic realistic sports (racing, basketball, football, baseball, etc). Nobody is arguing there aren't great games on other consoles, they're just all cut from the same cloth. And the games that do venture to do something different typically suck.

Now, that's not to say those games are inherently bad, it's just that after so many of them you start to get bored with the same old thing. So where there might be 100 games on offer, there's really only 10 sets of 10 games on offer, each set of 10 strikingly similar to each other. For every great AAA game, there's 10-15 more just like it. That's not to dismiss the other consoles because they are equally enjoyable- key word there being equal, not more. There's certainly more games but for reasons mentioned above you're probably not going to get any more enjoyment on a macro level as opposed to the Wii U.

The argument isn't that other consoles are not valid, or that the other consoles are lesser platforms, but rather that the Wii U is equally valid. By capitalizing on each and every release, and varying the gameplay from title to title, Nintendo has been able to offer a console which provides equal enjoyment as the other consoles. Yes, PS4 and Xbox One have high rated titles. But people are buying those. Wii U has high rated titles, yet most ignore both it and the games.

Now, yes- it probably will always be niche. But that's because the average gamer today isn't a habitual gamer like we are. The average gamer today fits the bill of what I described earlier. So it does Nintendo no good whatsoever to have great games that are different than everything else and provide unique experiences if that's not really what people care about. But, for the minority of habitual, chronic gamers such as ourselves, who want a little more from gaming than just your modern megabudget title, Nintendo has just what we're looking for (not saying we don't want AAA , just saying AAA only accounts for half the pie, and Nintendo has the other half). Since the popularization of video games, most have created a very narrow, limited box in their mind of what a video game can (or should) be, which is why so many AAA games look the same. But there is still a small minority of gamers that do not limit what a game should be in their minds. Gamers who are open to anything, and are perfectly open to playing a game that goes against the norm- as long as it's fun- as long as it's entertaining.

Gaming has become popularized. But serious, habitual, chronic (some would say hardcore?) gamers are still a small minority.

EDIT: I also think that while many games will score equally as high by critics, I feel that many games cannot truly be represented on a numerical scale. For example, I know 3 games on Wii U I will be playing the entirety of this generation- Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. Now, judging numerically those games are no more impressive than the latest GTAV port, however, judging actual utility, the enjoyment I will get from those games will far exceed in any game I have yet to play on my other two consoles. And they are all different then anything else out there (which is why people can play those games for so many years- because they're not playing 10 other games just like them). Now, that's not to say the other consoles won't have games like that of their own- because they will, but again the argument isn't the other consoles are bad, the argument is that Wii U has equally compelling software and yet it is ignored entirely, by most anyways.

But, I do think the "core base" of PS4 and X1 gamers will probably help boost Wii U sales around Year 3 or so. And by "core base", I estimate most of the people who bought a PS4/X1 within a year of launch. Because those are the enthusiasts who love gaming more then the average Joe. And like how I bought a Wii U first and then added a PS4 and eventually an X1 to my spread, I think many of them will likewise add a Wii U to their spread in a year or two (after they've recovered from the financial blow of buying their first console). I think a lot of Nintendo-only gamers are going to broaden their horizons into third-party territory this generation, and I also think a lot of third-party gamers are going to dip their toes into the Nintendo well this generation.

@electrolite77 Well said. Besides the core base, the rest of the base is predominantly the younger crowd. Right now that younger crowd is mainly playing on the 3DS, seeing as what, over 87% of Wii U owners are age 18-35 according to that recent data? Something like that. Anyways, if they can figure out a way to get them to migrate over to the Wii U they will have nothing to worry about.

And I've taken notice of them doing exactly that. All those Wii U vids in the 3DS eShop, releasing DKC Returns 3D 9 months before Tropical freeze, Mario 3D Land and 3D World, porting Xenoblade before releasing the sequel X on Wii U- it's pretty obvious they're doing everything they can to convert that younger crowd on their handheld platform to switch over to their home consoles. And to be frank, that's probably their best strategy all around. There's more than enough in the 3DS base to make the Wii U successful. The obstacle is, as you so finally stated, the restricted income of younger gamers. Which is why Christmas is such a pivotal time of year for the system.

@Quorthon Easy sweetheart! Your fingers are gonna get sore typing all these posts. Or are you using a Wii U gamepad honey!

And by the way, I don't usually believe what women say about vids!

@Punished_Boss_84
At'a girl!

@beautifulstrong

I'm not sure what you being sexist has to do with anything, but I wouldn't brag about that if I were you. That's like being proud to a hateful racist.

@JaxonH

The problem with getting the kids with 3DS's onto the Wii U is that kids don't have jobs or money--they have to somehow convince parents the console is worth buying, when it's $100 more than the Wii they were familiar with, and right now, only $50 less than the Xbox One--a console several times more powerful, with far stronger 3rd party support. That specific point doesn't mean much to parents as much as seeing far more shelves full of games in a store for the XBO or PS4 than the Wii U. It's good that Nintendo is cross-promoting, but they need to appeal to parents' wallets, not just the kids themselves.

@electrolite77

Nintendo is worried about 3rd party, and they should be. Their revenue is as dependent on sales of 3rd party games (if not more so) as their own games. Iwata has, however, addressed this in a staggeringly backwards manner to investors, mainly in trying to say that "we'll sell consoles, and then the 3rd parties will come back." Unfortunately, compared to MS and Sony, they are not selling consoles, and the Wii U still won't support the games coming out in the new generation (say, anything made on Unreal 4 or Frostbite), which means 3rd parties aren't coming back.

Until Nintendo starts actively appealing to them the way MS and Sony do. Sony snagged Street Fighter V as an exclusive. Microsoft has timed exclusivity on Tomb Raider. After the final Sonic game, and largely funding and publishing Devil's Third, where is Nintendo's important 3rd party support?

@Nintendobro

Fact: Nintendo's unique ideas an innovations since the GameCube era have not caught on or become industry standards. The exact opposite of their innovations with the NES, SNES, and N64 (analog stick, re-introducing 4 controller ports on a console, etc).

Fact: Nintendo has very little (almost no) third party support and Nintendo hardware does not feature major franchises or new releases. Franchises that will skip the Wii U: Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Evolve, Battlefield, Wolfenstein, Doom, Dragon Age, Witcher, Grid, etc.

Fact: Most people no longer buy Nintendo consoles as game consoles but as Nintendo boxes. Nintendo is no longer treated equally to Xbox or Playstation brands, and their own fans treat the company like a third party publisher.

Fact: Nintendo has not dominated in sales since the launch of the Wii U, and were outsold in less than half a year by the PS4.

Note: The Wii coasted for a few years on a fad, then eventually lost sales rather quickly to the Xbox 360 and PS3. At the end of the generation, the X360 and PS3 were within 20 million each of the sales of the Wii U. Nintendo's big sacrifice was a temporary gain which ultimately cost them the support and confidence of many developers and many more gamers.

Saying the company is moving towards irrelevance is entirely valid. Their decisions and concepts no longer inspire change or new concepts in the industry. They are neither technology nor sales leaders anywhere except for comparing the 3DS to the Vita--and even the 3DS has rather lackluster 3rd party support. Where are the EA, Ubisoft, 2K, and Activision games on the 3DS? Where are the portable versions of major franchises like 2K sports titles, Madden, Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, etc? The DS certainly had them, but the 3DS does not.

Once again, Nintendo are not industry innovators or leaders anymore. Nintendo is the weird rich kid in the corner, who acts like he's too good to play with the other kids, and his small number of weird toys prevent other kids from caring. And when the Nintendo fans act like 3rd parties don't matter and that they're grossly inferior to Nintendo on all fronts, they're just hastening Nintendo's spiral into irrelevance.

@Quorthon Parents aren't looking at how many games are on the shelf. They buy what their kids want. If It does come down to money, Wii U has the advantage. Be it $50 or not, less is less. Old Wii prices are now irrelevant.

3rd party (as in popular AAA) have been gone for 15+ years. They just don't sell. It's not a Nintendo issue, or a hardware issue, or a relations issue. It's a "the fan base refuses to buy them" issue. And, that's ok. Won't be as popular a system (and again, Nintendo hasn't been for 15+ years), but 3rd part are not the end all be all. Nintendo keeps ramping up production by the next generation they will be completely self sufficient. Be it to a smaller base but again, that's ok.

@JaxonH

Having worked in retail, at both GameStop and Best Buy selling video games to people, I can say that yes, parents do take into account more than just what their kid says they want. They weigh price and options, and if the family as a whole can get more out of the console because $300 is a lot of money. People will pay slightly more for better hardware, as Microsoft and Sony have fully proven with currently known holiday sales--they are crushing the crap out of the Wii U, because they simply offer more for the money.

Popular AAA third party has also not been gone for 15+ years. After all, Call of Duty still graced the Wii, the GameCube featured excellent third party support--notably from Capcom, but also had the Call of Duty, Medal of Honor (at the time, this franchise was the big one), Mortal Kombat, Soulcaliber II, and countless others. The DS also featured strong third party support.

You are right that Nintendo fans care little for 3rd parties and are the primary reason third party companies abandon Nintendo, however, Nintendo will never be self-sufficient. That's completely absurd. For one, it's bizarre that anyone would champion this, and for another, game development costs are very, very high now for AAA franchises. I don't expect Xenoblade Chronicles X will make it's money back, nor will the Japan-only Fatal Frame or Devil's Third.

Nintendo cannot go it alone in the future, especially if they want their stock price to have any value at all. Without third party support, the N64 died early, with flagging third party support, the Wii crawled it's way to an early end, and without third party support, the Wii U and 3DS struggle to be profitable. If you want a glimpse of Nintendo going it alone, look at the first two years of the Wii U, where the company was constantly seeing operating losses.

Self-sufficiency would be an even faster movement toward irrelevancy than their current rate of movement in that direction.

The only way they could be self-sufficient would be if they continued to lag behind everyone else technology-wise, and reduced their output of games to only a few per year in order to drive up sales of those individual games. In a day and age when development of a single game can exceed 50~100 million dollars, Nintendo simply cannot afford to be self-sufficient. Sorry man, but that's a pipe dream. What would make infinitely more sense would be for Nintendo to sever the hardware arm entirely, and go third party.

You seem to be treating them that way already anyway.

@Quorthon
No, I like Nintedo hardware.

And I don't think its absurd. Your statement makes it sound like GC and Wii had equal 3rd party support, but they didn't. Sure, a few CoD games but even Wii U has that. I dare say Wii U has more top rated AAA titles than either the Wii or GC, and in just 2 years it surpasses them.

In any case I don't think it's absurd to become self sustaining. Sure it was slow the first year- they weren't planning on lack of support. But with proper planning and increased output, this is a very feasible option. Games are meant to make money, and AAA games don't make money on Nintendo hardware. So they can crank out more of the games that do. Between increased 1st party output and select 3rd party exclusives (at least one or 2 per year), and the other hodgepodge games like LEGO and Disney Infinity that are popular in the platform, they'll have more than enough.

Nintendo consoles don't need the same marketshare. They just need to maintain a profit to sustain both them and their gamers. And if they're turning profits now (which they are, huge turnaround this year) they can certainly pull it off in the future as they pump out more and more games to fill the gaps.

EDIT: And at the end of the day, people can say they should go 3rd part, or get AAA (that repeatedly do not sell no matter what), or whatever, but it's not gonna happen so the point is moot. Nintendo will keep making games and consoles, will continue NOT having 3rd party AAA titles, will continue to dominate in the handheld an remain small in the home console market. And I will continue enjoying their games as I have for 20+ years now.

NINTENDO, developer of the year!!! Wooooooo!
I stopped going to gamestop because the staff were obnoxious, and always tried to steer my purchases towards sony and MS.
but wow, nintendo had such a TERRIFIC year .
NINTENDO NINTENDO NINTENDO!

An interesting exchange of views between JasonH and Quorthon. while it does seem that Nintendo is approaching a crossroads where they need to reassess their plan of attack. It's really easy for people to say Nintendo needs to bring third parties back and that they need to release more powerful hardware but what that really means is they want Nintendo to copy sony and microsoft. Neither Sony nor Microsoft have the depth of first party content that Nintendo has so if they don't bow to the will of third party studios their consoles wont be able to claim the amount of market share that they currently do. This is a situation that gives third party studios a lot of power and a lot of say in the hardware chosen for a new console - something Nintendo could never accept. And using more powerful and more expensive hardware isn't guaranteed to get third parties on board when Sony and Microsoft charge lower licensing fees among other concessions. If the price of getting third parties on board is more than it's worth why should Nintendo bring themselves down to sony and microsoft's level when those two aren't making a lot of money off their games business? Rather they are using their games divisions as a means to a different end, to rule the living room with all in one media boxes that also happen to play games. It's a race to the bottom between sony and microsoft and Nintendo needs to plan their next move smartly.