Nintendo market value surpasses ¥10 trillion

Mario Factory shares surge ahead yet again, cementing its position as Japan's third most valuable company.

"Congratulations! That's a new high score!" If the stock market was a video game, Nintendo would currently be reading that phrase onscreen.

On October 3, the company's shares hit a record high of ¥64,800 (approx $551) briefly during the trading day, before closing at ¥64,300 ($547). Since then the shares have just kept going up and up, and closed today on the Japanese stock exchange, just under two weeks later, at ¥71,300 ($606). During the trading day, the shares hit a high of ¥71,500 ($608), and even at their lowest were ¥69,300 ($590).

This means the company has now surpassed ¥10 trillion ($85 billion) in market value, a fivefold increase in the last two years. According to Reuters, the continuing rise in share price is a reflection of the continuing demand for the company's latest games machines--the DS and the Wii.

Analysts continued to be upbeat about the company, despite recent reports that software houses in Japan were concerned about the longevity of the Wii. KBC Securities analyst Hiroshi Kamide said, "There's more upside than downside risk. There's every reason to believe Nintendo will continue to execute its strategy well in expanding the gaming industry to strengthen its position...and really keep doing what it's been doing regardless of what competition is doing."

234 Comments

  • D34DLY_V1P3R

    Posted Oct 20, 2007 2:16 am PT

    "Let the Nintendo stock soar to the point it can buy out the xbox and end the mystery once and for all, and for the sake of our planet and the environment."

    , lol i feel sorry 4 u zerosumgame

  • DraginHikari

    Posted Oct 18, 2007 9:42 am PT

    I really hate the term hardcore gamer term, really it sounds snobbish more then anything >>;; Look games are games, your going to play what you want to play. I play alot of games and still enjoy the silly party games the wii tends to have simply because there fun. Nintendo trying to appeal through trying to make the games unique. While the 360 continues to appeal to the 'hardcore' gamer as you put it. PS3 up there somewhere but I've seen very little for the system expect the same sport games they put out every yyear on all consoles or racing games XD

  • CRAZYCAM_93

    Posted Oct 18, 2007 9:07 am PT

    10 Trillion Yen. Think of all the poor, starving children you could feed in Africa with that money. And they go and spend it on silly games...

  • xgalacticax

    Posted Oct 18, 2007 7:33 am PT

    MARKET VALUE'S UP FIVEFOLD IN TWO YEARS!!!! BLOODY HELL!!

  • Legend4000

    Posted Oct 18, 2007 5:25 am PT

    Nintendo is a pimp!!!

    It doesn't surprise me. It costs them about 2 cents to make a wii.

  • ocdog45

    Posted Oct 17, 2007 6:48 pm PT

    strait cash homie

  • -SlipSkull-

    Posted Oct 17, 2007 5:54 pm PT

    Good news for Nintendo.

  • -Squirrel-

    Posted Oct 17, 2007 4:47 pm PT

    Wewt wewt!!! Almost a year after its release and the Wii is still making Nintendo a fortune and a half. So Anti Wii people, when is this Wii fad thing suppose to end? 5 years maybe?

    My only problem with Nintendo right now is since they are doing so well, they need to shift a huge portion of their financial weight to marketing. Lack of advertising has always been their weak suit. Games like Halo do so well due to the HUGE marketing campaigns behind them; if Nintendo had put the same weight behind Metroid Prime 3 I'm very confident that it could have equaled sales since at its heart it is a more intelligent and better designed game than Halo (albeit no multiplayer.) Nintendo needs to let people know the games they make and why they should play them.

  • keyhunter

    Posted Oct 17, 2007 4:18 pm PT

    Maybe they should use some of that 85 billion dollars to make some half decent games.

  • goron_tunic

    Posted Oct 17, 2007 3:03 pm PT

    i dont want a wavy controller i want a challenge not fake bowling

  • Zerosumgame

    Posted Oct 17, 2007 11:59 am PT

    Let the Nintendo stock soar to the point it can buy out the xbox and end the mystery once and for all, and for the sake of our planet and the environment.

  • Great_Ragnarok

    Posted Oct 17, 2007 8:57 am PT

    guys this is a simple prediction for stock holders.its not the actual amount they have.but who know if Nintendo increses there production it mite be true. nice either way.

  • mashom

    Posted Oct 17, 2007 2:58 am PT

    can i get some yen wow 2 much.

  • Nawras

    Posted Oct 17, 2007 12:30 am PT

    That's impressive. Nintendo is ruling the handheld market.

  • xcollector

    Posted Oct 16, 2007 11:52 pm PT

    Go Mario Factory!

  • dumb_person1

    Posted Oct 16, 2007 4:04 pm PT

    wow impressive.

  • BlueFlameBat

    Posted Oct 16, 2007 2:56 pm PT

    I hope all this success doesn't make Nintendo lazy.

  • kavadias1981

    Posted Oct 16, 2007 12:16 pm PT

    The best way to describe Nintendo right now is as a steamroller: flattening it's competition as it rolls forward. I personally wish it was Nintendo and Sony together that were doing the flattening though.

  • wargraymon

    Posted Oct 16, 2007 8:45 am PT

    the beat of their own drum, nothing wrong with that, that can afford it for now. problem with third party is that most are affraid to push the system to its limit.

  • SmoothCrimen

    Posted Oct 16, 2007 8:24 am PT

    I believe that too, dragonseer439, instead of everyone thought's, I don't think Super Mario galaxy will be the sales-rocketeer for the Wii, I think it'll be Super Smash Bros. Brawl but we need to wait to see that coming.

  • dragonseer439

    Posted Oct 16, 2007 7:21 am PT

    @ the_deathstar - r u talking about me? This is an article about finance, I'm just pointing out the flipside, there is more to this than just "Yay, go Nintendo". and @getoconnection, the thing about the Wii is that Nintendo have gone after a new casual market, and no one really knows if this new market is going to continue to support it. Japanese housewifes and people like that have bought the Wii don't really give a toss about games like Super Mario Galaxy, that's why it will be interesting to see how well it sells. I'm not arguing that Nintendo will go down, just pointing out the danger is there. Already the attach rate for Wii games is pretty poor, and that needs to turn around. Maybe Wii fit will do better than Mario, who knows? Watch and see, I guess.

  • the_deathstar

    Posted Oct 16, 2007 6:03 am PT

    watch out nobel laureate below, cough cough, burrnn

  • getoconnection

    Posted Oct 16, 2007 3:19 am PT

    dragonseer439

    @getoconnection - I checked out that article with the link you posted, and it's good, but it doesn't really address the real "bubble" issue, which is an economic one. Whenever a share price goes up remarkably like this, it's because investors are expecting a great deal out of the company, and if they don't deliver on these expectations, than they can be in real trouble. If you follow business than you would know this happens a lot, and it can destroy companies. Even though Nintendo is in the lead at the moment, this shows that they are facing even more pressure than Microsoft and Sony right now, and they are probably feeling it behind the scenes.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The only flaw in your argument is Nintendo has been doing this for over 20 years. Making good games is second nature for them. I don't think they will have a problem "meeting expectations." 3rd parties on the other hand.....

  • gcps2master

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 11:36 pm PT

    It is all to do with 3rd party, and PS3 is just crap at the moment because not many 3rd partys want to help it as it costs so much to make a game for it. Wii is getting it all because its cheaper and easier to make games for it. Microsoft is rich so they're getting support, so thats why i've got a wii and 360 this gen

  • stublue

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 9:59 pm PT

    While I do think Nintendo need more good first party titles like metroid and mario galaxy, I admire what they are doing and think they are doing a great job of it. They're on a roll right now; Sony won the last 2 wars because they got all the 3rd party support, but now the Wii is slowly garnering all that 3rd party support. I believe that makes them a very likely winner. The key, I believe, is that these 3rd party's start making good games like GTA (even tho i personally dont like GTA) rather than just movie and fad spinoffs. Once that gets going, no one will ever catch up with Nintendo. Just imagine a title like God of War or Halo on Wii... It'll be over microsoft or Sony. Let me state also, X360 is my favourite hard core console at the moment

  • da_man244

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 9:55 pm PT

    Wow I never knew Nintendo was worth 10 trillion yen then again when you convert that to American dollars its only 85 billion dollars, but thats still a lot of money.

  • Phazevariance

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 9:04 pm PT

    There are only so many hardcore gamers out there, but casual gamers and non gamers take up more of the population... and thats the market Nintendo is going after, so it's no wonder they are doing so well.

  • Supernova_86

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 8:45 pm PT

    supertails: >>"I witnessed Nintendo lose to Sony only a few years ago under the might of the Playstation marketing machine..."

  • selbie

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 8:43 pm PT

    You're winner!!

  • Supernova_86

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 8:39 pm PT

    Ten trillion Yen, and the Wii hasn't even been out for one year yet... my goodness. Just imagine how rich Nintendo will be once the Wii reaches 100 million in a few years time. Maybe 25 trillion Yen? That's crazy.

  • dragonseer439

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 8:15 pm PT

    @getoconnection - I checked out that article with the link you posted, and it's good, but it doesn't really address the real "bubble" issue, which is an economic one. Whenever a share price goes up remarkably like this, it's because investors are expecting a great deal out of the company, and if they don't deliver on these expectations, than they can be in real trouble. If you follow business than you would know this happens a lot, and it can destroy companies. Even though Nintendo is in the lead at the moment, this shows that they are facing even more pressure than Microsoft and Sony right now, and they are probably feeling it behind the scenes.

  • 123625

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 8:11 pm PT

    i donty understand market shares, stock or anything like that but i guess 10 trillion is alot.

  • godzillavskong

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 7:56 pm PT

    I'm glad to have the Big N and Microsoft shares in my 401k. Keep it up!!

  • Cobra_nVidia

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 7:47 pm PT

    Good for Mario he's been working hard

  • getoconnection

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 7:42 pm PT

    About that said bubble.....

    http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/06/opinion_the_wii.html

  • dragonseer439

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 7:07 pm PT

    Lol, Well said Myugenjin, you've made some good points, but I didn't mean to say Nintendo has extra cash because of their share price, just their week on week sales, the fact they make a profit from each Wii sold and things like that. I just hope that with this revenue coming in they start making better hardware (HD compatible, for example) and games into the future. I was dissapointed with Twilight Princess, it didn't have a strong artistic vision like the Wind Waker or the older N64 games, and they stuck to a cheap MIDI soundtrack rather than an orchestral score, it had low res textures etc. Now they are doing well, their first party games should be able to have bigger production values from now on, otherwise people probably will lose interest and the Wii will end up a passing fad.

  • god_yggdrasil

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 6:55 pm PT

    hahaaa i love ti when people try to make the excuse that the Wii is only beating the 360 and PS3 in stock because of the low price...why dont they just face it that it appeals to more people than the PS3 or 360? it may not appeal to hardcore gamers as much, but it appeals a lot more to the majority of the world that isnt hardcore video game freaks. but look at them now, oversold by SOOO much it completely destroys the competition. but actually, now that i was told this way, there really wasnt any competition to begin with. not saying 360 and PS3 are bad at all, just saying, they arent in the same league as the Wii. the Wii's league isnt any better, its just a brand new path that was taken. if nintendo would have kept following the same path and keep butting heads with the two others, they would have lost this generation for sure, and could have been out. so instead, they made their own, original path to follow, taking them away from the same crowd as 360 and PS3, and attracting a bigger, brand new crowd. and with this, there goal has been reached and they're making millions(according to this, billions). and then maybe, after making a porfit off the Wii, they'll end up making a console thats worthy to butt heads with PS3 and 360, and they'll have the money and support from other companies to have what it takes to dominate the generation.

  • zakkss

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 6:35 pm PT

    So the Wii made a nice big bubble. Mario looks up, scratch his hat and wonder how long until it goes *bop*. Kawaii!

  • DarkWarrior42

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 6:34 pm PT

    I'm so happy that Nintendo, financially, are doing great in stocks! Mario especially deserves some credit (Maybe some extra 1-UP Mushrooms or some Golden Fire Flowers. Mario, keep going/

  • Myugenjin

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 6:29 pm PT

    Market cap aint their cash on hand! At best with the recent price hike all they can do is sell their shares while its still high to do anything with the stocks surge! Whenever that happens exec's pocket that $$$ since its literally their shares they own themselves not the "companies"!

    Nintendo could be worth 500 billion market cap but that don't mean their actual sales are that let alone that they have 500billion worth of purchasing power! This is merely what the investors think the company is worth based off of demand.

    Whoever seriously thinks 11 sumthing million Wii sales and 40-50 million DS sales are netting Nintendo 85 billion is insane! But like Dragonseer stated once the bubble bust it will hit hard and I bet anything Nintendo execs know this and are trying to liquidate their stock after witch they'll probably be fired or quite since that doesn't look good to all the other shareholders who were suckers and bought while it was high!

    In many ways this is alot like an IPO such as when BAIDU got launched and they were touted as the Chinese google! After the 1st q report it was impossible for them to outperform the market as they were a new comp and naturally their stock dropped like a rock which is what these analyst are saying about NTDOY! If Nintendo don't start getting those killer apps out like 360, PC, and PS3 are those Wii sales will slow as nintendo often does. Remember the N64 actually sold more units then the Gamecube and the SNES even more then the N64!

    Nintendo's strategy for 1st party dev support is best in market for getting high initial sale right after launch but their 3rd party support has gotten smaller with each new console resulting in weak sales.

  • rocklee111

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 6:15 pm PT

    wow

  • ulrikz

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 6:13 pm PT

    So much money, yet almost no great gamer-games (not party games and more casual games but stuff like Metroid Prime 3 etc) on the Wii, what gives Nintendo?

  • ImSwordMan

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 6:07 pm PT

    Congrats Nintendo My favorite company since childhood
    cheers!

  • dragonseer439

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 6:00 pm PT

    If nintendo has all this cash now I wonder if they are going to make another console, an upgrade like a Wii HD or something like that (now that I'd buy). Personally I think that Nintendo's market value is being really overestimated right now (probably at least about 5 - 6 times the companys real value), no way are they as an important company as Toyota or something like that. If it keeps going up like this the bubble will burst like silicon valley a few years ago.

  • Yarcofin

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 5:42 pm PT

    Boo not being able to invest in Yen

  • Regginator14520

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 5:41 pm PT

    holy crap, 10 trillion?

  • grafkhun

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 5:36 pm PT

    hot damn!

advertisement

Hot Stories

Newsmakers

Featured Stories

Submit News

Got tips? Send them in!