Due to the hype surrounding Nintendo’s new console, the Nintendo Switch, the company’s market value skyrocketed by $1 billion and is up over 50% since last year.
Today, Nintendo nigh-on broke the Internet by revealing its brand new console, theNintendo Switch. A hybrid handheld/home console, just as many rumors had predicted, players are able to detach a tablet from the base and play games on the go.
However, while the actual reveal of the Switch was met with masses of virtual applause, the hype leading up to the reveal was also at an unprecedented level. In fact, people were so excited for theNintendo Switch announcementthat it increased Nintendo’s market value by $1 billion.
A report fromBloombergconfirms that after Nintendo announced that it would be releasing a trailer for the console, by midday Tokyo-time, the company’s shares “surged” by as much as 4.6%. This increased value comes despite the fact that “the reveal comes relatively late for a game console that is slated to go on sale in March,” according to Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo. Yasuda also said that the console would have to be “sufficiently different from Wii U and deliver on Nintendo’s promise of a completely new concept device,” so post-reveal it’s entirely possible that Nintendo’s market value has rocketed even more.
The publication also notes that Nintendo’s stock price has increased by over 50% since last year, heavily affected by the announcement thatit would be making smartphone games. That said, it has been a busy year for the company’s investors, although the mobile gaming confirmation was positive,Nintendo’s shares dropped after investors realized that it doesn’t makePokemon GO.
Moreover,Bloomberg’s report cites Macquarie Securities analyst David Gibson who suggested that the Nintendo Switch will cost $250, will sell 2.5 million units in its first month and will sell an ‘additional’ 10.6 million units by March 2018. Gibson also stated that the Switch would have a ‘strong’ line-up of titles.
At the moment, it’s unclear whether Gibson’s predictions will come true as Nintendo has not even hinted at the price of the Nintendo Switch or itsJoy-Con controllers. And while major third-party support has been announced, including (Red Dead RedemptionandGrand Theft Autopublisher) Take-Two, EA, Activision, and Ubisoft, launch titles from these companies haven’t been confirmed. Bethesda has also said thatSkyrimmight not come to the Nintendo Switch, despite the RPG spotted being spotted in the announcement trailer.
