Is the end nigh for Nintendo, then? Should Mario hang up his plunger and should Link finally settle down with Zelda and have a couple of sprogs? Of course not. Granted, there are a number of commentators - many of them online - who are declaring Nintendo doomed, but we've been here before many times.
The DS was "doomed" when Sony released the PSP and went on to become the greatest-selling video games system of all time. The Wii was "doomed" when it released with no HD output and a simplistic control system, and went on to sell 100 million units. Many declared the 3DS "doomed" when it launched with a mediocre library and then suffered a major price drop less than six months later, yet it's just broken the 30 million sales mark.
There's no denying the Wii U hasn't had the best of starts, and things are going to get worse before they get better.
It's certainly going to be a huge struggle in the UK, which used to be a massive market for Nintendo and has now seemingly turned its back on it - there hasn't been a single Wii U game in the UK Top 40 games chart since Christmas.
Turning things around
If there's one thing Nintendo knows how to do, however, it's to set a ship back on the right course. Its president Satoru Iwata confirmed last week that Nintendo will soon be showing off the killer apps still missing on the system - a 3D Mario platformer, a Mario Kart game, a Zelda remake and a brand new Zelda - and it's clear that once these are released, many gamers on the fence will finally step forward and buy a Wii U (after all, the 3DS came out of its sales slump once Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land were released).
Then, of course, there's Pokémon. Set for release in October, Pokémon X and Pokémon Y mark the sixth generation of the much-loved series and will be the first Pokémon games exclusively for the 3DS (previous games ran on the DS too), no doubt leading to a massive boost in handheld sales in the weeks leading up to Christmas 2013.
Yesterday's news only confirmed what many of us had suspected for a while - that things aren't going perfectly for Nintendo at this exact moment.
Now that the transitional period is over, though, there's no reason to believe the Kyoto giant won't pick itself up and start slowly building its way back up to profit again.
All eyes turn now to the upcoming E3 Expo in June to see what big games and other surprises Nintendo has up its sleeve, because with Microsoft and Sony both readying their own next-gen consoles this is going to be a crucial year.
Chris Scullion is Games Editor of CVG.co.uk.
