2012: Armageddon For Nintendo?

 Imagine a world without any more Zelda and Mario games. Imagine when we’re older, when we all have children, that on their 18th birthday, we give them our old Nintendo systems coupled with the top hits from our time. It’ll be a sad day when Nintendo finally does close its doors for good, and that day might be sooner than we all think.

Last Thursday, Nintendo broke some gut wrenching news; they revealed that between March and December 31st, their fiscal year, they lost $623 million whereas in the previous year, they gained $639 million. For whatever the reason, it’s starting to become clear that this generation wants more hardcore consoles with blood and guts over the classics that we all grew up with.

And no, the news doesn’t end there – They’re also estimating their loss by the end of this fiscal year to be $837 million. The cause? Reports say it’s because the yen is strong – it’s currently at 77.54 to the US dollar in comparison to the 82.90 that it was a year ago. My personal opinion? It’s because this generation wants more hardcore consoles, like PS3 and XBOX 360 to cater to their craving for blood, guts, and multiplayer with all the bells and whistles.

Can the Wii-U stop the money from hemorrhaging for Nintendo? Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

Even kids at four years old play games like Grand Theft Auto – kids these days only know of the new Mario and Sonic games, not the classics that us old geezers grew up on. It’s a sad forecast and prediction to say that Nintendo’s name is dying out.

While it delivers in strength and reliable hardware, the games are not as desired as they once were and Nintendo doesn’t want to give too heavily into popular demands because they, like us, still value games from a different time.

The other reason for their loss? Nintendo would rather lose all this money instead of firing their employees. Had it been Sony or Microsoft, employees would be cut without a second thought. Even in Nintendo’s time of depression, they’re still producing the Wii-U. Let’s just hope that the Wii-U will have high sales and that the powers-that-be will keep Nintendo around for a while longer.