By revenue, Nintendo is the world's largest video game company. However, this holiday season, the tale could be very different, as the company is struggling to get its flagship console Wii U off the shelves.
Wii U got a decent headstart over PlayStation 4 and Xbox One by hitting the markets in November/early-December 2012 and selling 3 million units by the end of the year. However, since then, it has been witnessing sluggish sales with Nintendo acknowledging recently that it could sell only 460,000 units of the console within the last six months.
Reports are also rife that less than 5 percent of game developers are developing titles for the Wii U and even after Nintendo slashed price of the console from $349 to $299 in September, it did little to improve the sales.
Here are some facts that would make Nintendo cringe: Wii U was outsold by the venerable Wii during the April-June period, and the British video game magazine Edge noted in its latest issue that in the most recent quarter, Wii U witnessed negative sales in Europe, even as retailers outside of Japan and the Americas reported returning more consoles to Nintendo than they have sold to customers.
Nintendo hoped that it would ship at least 5 million Wii U sales by April 2013 but till September 2013, it could only ship a total of 4 million units. Not a good omen, especially with Microsoft and Sony selling 1 million units each of Xbox One and PlayStation 4, within the first 24 hours of market launch last month.
But does this mean that the Wii U chapter has ended for Nintendo?
No and yes. No, because gamers will need the Wii U to play the recently released Super Mario 3D, which shot to the top of video game charts and is being touted as one of the best games released this year. "Super Mario 3D World is the best game on the Wii U by far, and arguably the best game to come out this holiday season on any platform. It sees Nintendo finally firing on all cylinders again, at a time when it's needed the most. It's Nintendo at its creative, playful, unhinged best," wrote The Verge.
In its latest markerting push, Nintendo has also released an appealing infographic to show off several genuine reasons of why you should still opt for Wii U this holiday season. The company is also trying its best to familiarize people with its flagship game console by handing out freebies.
However, having said that, one single game title, no matter how great, is not enough to wean gamers away from Xbox One or PlayStation 4. After all, there lies a world ahead of Super Mario 3D World, a world which has games like Grand Theft Auto V, Wrath of the White Witch, BioShock Infinite and The Last Of Us.
