Gather Your Party

There’s been a lot of speculation regarding Nintendo’s future ever since early details around the Wii U started coming out. While the original Wii was undoubtedly underpowered when compared to the 360 and PS3, it’s motion control gimmick managed to help it tap into a new market of casual gamers that just hadn’t been around in generations past, allowing Nintendo to achieve tremendous success without having to really directly compete with Microsoft and Sony.

Things have changed considerably in the Wii’s more recent years. Those casual gamers eventually got bored with motion controls and largely moved over to mobile and tablet gaming, leaving the Wii with a noticeably reduced audience. The Wii U seems to be an attempt both to win back some of the more hardcore gamers from the Gamecube era, and to reel some of those casuals back in with a control scheme the iOS crowd will be right at home with. A common criticism seems to be that the Wii U is stuck somewhere between these two audiences, with specs not quite high enough to impress hardcore fans looking for a “next generation” system, and perhaps a few too many buttons to appeal to the screen-tappers. As a result, some spectators are beginning to wonder about the system’s long-term viability. Some as gone so far as to suggest that Nintendo is in for financial difficulty, and may even drop out of the console business.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Yeah, that ain’t happening. Seriously, like, ever. Ever wonder just how much Nintendo has in the bank? If the financial data that recently came out of Nintendo Gamer is to be believed, they aren’t exactly strapped for cash these days:

“Nintendo have 812.8 billion Yen (£6.7/$10.5 billion) in the bank – enough for it to take a 20 billion Yen loss (£163/$257 million) every year until 2052.”

I think I speak for all of us when I say daaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn. Could Nintendo really take almost half a century of nonstop losses and stay in business? Probably not, what with market fluctuations and all, but it’s safe to say the prospect of a single console under-performing isn’t something that could threaten the survival of the company. In fact, they could survive several generations of failed consoles. Not only will Nintendo outlive the Wii U, it will probably outlive the “me and you” (snare drum). And let’s be honest here, the Wii U probably isn’t going to fail in the long run. While it may flounder a bit in the first year or so, like with the 3DS, ultimately it will find an audience, whether it takes a price cut or a couple of awesome exclusives coming out to make that happen.

While I’ve got you here, here’s a list of the twenty-three launch titles that will be available on the Wii U’s November 18th launch:

- Nintendo Land
- New Super Mario Bros. U
- SiNG PARTY
- NINJA GAIDEN 3: Razor’s Edge
- ZombiU
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II
- Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
- FIFA Soccer 13
- Scribblenauts Unlimited
- Skylanders Giants
- TRANSFORMERS PRIME
- Wipeout 3
- TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT 2 Wii U Edition
- Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
- WARRIORS OROCHI 3 Hyper
- Darksiders II
- Assassin’s Creed III
- ESPN Sports Connection
- Just Dance 4
- Rabbids Land
- Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013
- Game Party Champions
- Batman: Arkham City: Armored Edition