Nintendo shares level up to 12-year high
Shares in Japanese gaming giant Nintendo surged today as investors took stock of the company’s successes during the coronavirus pandemic.
The firm’s share price reached ¥50,180 during trading, before closing at ¥50,110. Analysts pointed to news of a new Pokemon game as piquing traders’ interests, as well as hopes that Nintendo will continue to benefit in a second wave of lockdown measures.
It is also understood Nintendo is preparing to reveal a new slate of games in time for the Christmas shopping period, which will be an added boon to its recent success.
Nintendo’s share price has not closed above ¥50,000 since August 2008, according to data from Refinitiv.
Forecasts suggest Nintendo’s popular Switch console could hit 75m sold units by March. One of its most recent releases, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, has been a surprise standout hit during the pandemic.
Nintendo’s Switch also benefits from a strong back catalogue of games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
The gaming firm yesterday announced new expansion passes for its successful Pokemon Sword and Shield franchise, alongside other new games and updates to the mobile game Pokemon Go.
The milestone follows the revelation earlier this month that a security breach which struck Nintendo Switch users in April was worse than first thought.
It said an additional 140,000 Nintendo Network IDs may have been affected by unauthorised logins, on top of the 160,000 IDs revealed earlier this year. This brings the total number of affected accounts up to 300,000.
Nintendo warned that these users’ personal info may have been viewed by a third party, but payment details remained safe. However in April, a number of users complained of their accounts being used to purchase in-game items.