After Nintendo Co’s new gaming platform Switch failed to impress investors, the company’s shares dropped on Friday.
Unveiled in a three-minute video released late Thursday, a tablet-like console that will let gamers play at home and on the go had been a long-awaited device. Gamers were shown to be detaching a part of it to continue playing at an airport, in a car and at a barbecue apart from using the new system to play in their living rooms,, the video from the Kyoto, Japan-based company showed.
“It’s a disappointing console. It doesn’t enhance the gaming experience when you have a smartphone in your pocket,” said Amir Anvarzadeh, Singapore-based head of Japanese equity sales at BGC Partners Inc.
Including Zelda, Super Mario, Mario Kart and a basketball game, Nintendo showed several titles from its flagship franchises. While the price wasn’t disclosed, the new system, originally dubbed NX, will be released in March, the company reiterated in the video.
The previous day’s rally that was triggered by news that the promotional video would be released was erased as shares in Tokyo fell as much as 5.2 percent.
The millennial demographic, young adults in their late 20s early 30s was the focus of the video. Nintendo’s mission of making games for the whole family was seemingly departed in the video. The Wii game video that features grandparents playing along with kids was introduced more than a decade ago and when compared with the latest video, the difference becomes particularly clear. According to Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad, between casual smartphone gamers and more serious players who use consoles such as Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 4, the company is trying to carve out a niche.
“They’ve certainly found their place in the market and this is the most logical thing for Nintendo to do,” said Ahmad, who covers the game industry.
A tablet-like display unit that can be taken out and about with two detachable controllers for multiparty play or can dock at home and connect with the TV is the new device. “It will allow for a whole new way to experience hardware and software together,” Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima said in April.
Nintendo’s recent embrace of smartphones is at odds with the he Switch’s portable feature. The company is planning to release Super Mario Run for Apple Inc.’s devices in December after years of ignoring pleas from fans and investors to bring its games to mobile phones. Pokemon Go, which was developed by San Francisco-based Niantic Inc. with Nintendo’s help, was released this summer and was widely successful and the release follows Pokemon Go.
Nintendo shares in Tokyo were sent up more than 60 percent this year through Thursday’s close as investors have cheered the shift to mobile. Mobile titles for its Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem franchises is also being planned to be released by March.
Wii is its most-successful console ever thanks to its motion-tracking controllers and the company is betting the hybrid approach will help the Switch become a hit like the Wii. The machine helped propel the company’s market value to about $90 billion in late 2007, almost three times its market capitalization today afye5r it debuted in 2006 and went on to sell more than 100 million units worldwide.
However compared to competing consoles from Sony and Microsoft Corp, the Wii U, was criticized for being less powerful in its 2012 follow-up. Noting less than a third of the 40 million PlayStation 4s that Sony has shipped, only 13 million units were sold as of June.
(Adapted from Bloomberg)









