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GoNintendo 'End of Day' thought - The smartly handled business of Nintendo

by rawmeatcowboy
30 July 2015
GN Version 5.0

Anyone feel like this week is moving slowly? Come on and get here, weekend! What's the big hold up? I'm ready for some rest and relaxation! See you in a few, short hours.

Let's look at the facts, shall we? Nintendo in today's day and age isn't doing as well as they were in last generation. It pains me to see that happen. Such highs were hit with the Wii and DS. They were huge sellers and turned into pop-culture icons. Gaming transcended the usual gamer and reached a new audience thanks to Nintendo's design ideas. It was a wonderful thing to see and I loved riding that wave of new Nintendo fans and smiling faces.

It would be crazy to think that Nintendo could match that success with another generation of platforms, but sadly the Wii U and 3DS seem to have struggled more than expected. We live in a new world with more ways to get entertainment than ever. While the 3DS had a rough time out of the gate, Nintendo turned that platform around into a pretty successful piece of hardware. With Wii U, it just seems like the lack of third party support and confusion at launch caused too many people to ignore the system.

There's no doubt that those falters hurt Nintendo. They caused Nintendo to post losses, which is a very un-Nintendo like thing to happen. At that time, Iwata vowed to turn the company around and get profit coming back in. He knew it wouldn't happen right away, but her promised to make that happen in time. He also pledged to do that without laying off waves of employees. How can you expect your devs to make great content when they're constantly worrying about being let go?

While Mr. Iwata may no longer be with us, his actions are very clear today. Nintendo has been turning a profit for awhile now, and they even managed to do that again in the notoriously tough Q1. This was thanks to the success of key titles, especially Splatoon. On top of that, amiibo are a real success story for Nintendo, with plenty more options on the way. Quality content continues to come from Nintendo, but costs have been cut and the company is running in a leaner, meaner mode.

It's a real testament to how Nintendo can weather a storm and make things work. Obviously they didn't want to get to this point and have to prove themselves in poor times, but that's just what they did. Now Nintendo moves forward towards new horizons. There are more games and platforms on the way. New ventures into other areas of entertainment are taking place. It's an exciting and scary time for Nintendo, but it sure is going to be fun to see how it all pans out. I'm in for the long haul...are you?