Nintendo shares have dropped in Japan following the recent news that the company was internally delaying its upcoming next-gen console to early 2025. Known simply as the “Switch 2” to the internet, reports claim Nintendo wanted to beef up its launch day lineup and as a result, won’t release the hardware until that is done.
Originally, reports claimed that Nintendo would announce the console in early 2024. A March reveal was expected. However, in recent days, multiple reports claim the reveal has been delayed to late 2024 with a release set for Q1 of 2025.
Since the news went public, share prices at Nintendo have dropped on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The price dipped by as much as 8.8% before settling down to 5.8%. Last week before the news went live, Nintendo stock would cost you ¥8,874. That has now dropped down to ¥8,410.
While this drop isn’t as drastic as Sony’s recent slash in value, it still goes to show how a simple “rumoured delay” can cost a company millions.
Nintendo isn’t out of the woods though. Some analysts are still worried about the year ahead as Nintendo’s software lineup isn’t looking too great. Many believe that Nintendo has delayed the Switch 2 to 2025 while at the same time, has a weak software lineup for this year too.
Other analysts aren’t as worried. They say the next-gen console launch is bound to happen at some point so there’s no reason to get dramatic about the delay.
The company recently confirmed that Switch sales were slowing down as it reported its weakest holiday earnings in years. The current Switch is entering its seventh year on the market and the console feels tapped out. The delay of this new hardware will have more negative effects on Nintendo than we expected.
Nintendo is hosting a Partner Direct tomorrow to showcase new games. However, these titles are focused on third-party announcements and not directly from Nintendo.
Source: Bloomberg
