Nintendo Share Value Plummets Ahead of E3, Baffling Investors

Next week’s Nintendo Direct is expected to be one of the bigger things to happen before the [...]

By ComicBook.com Staff

Nintendo Switch

Next week's Nintendo Direct is expected to be one of the bigger things to happen before the Electronic Entertainment Expo kicks off. But something interesting occurred on the stock market this week that shows some mild signs of concern, particularly from investors.

A report has appeared on Bloomberg indicating that the makers of the Nintendo Switch console have seen a huge stock tumble, with shares trading at the deepest discount on Wall Street for the first time in a decade.

The shares tumbled around 6.3 percent on Monday following a four percent loss the Friday before, marking the biggest two-day decline on the market since December 2016.

"What is shocking is that recently there has been a lot of good news related to Nintendo," Jefferies Group analyst Atul Goyal wrote in a recent report. "Nevertheless, if chartists are giving a diametrically opposite view, we take this as an opportunity to reassess and review."

So why the drop in shares? Nintendo has been riding high with the Switch over the past few months and, again, there was excitement going into what was coming at E3.

A few concerns have apparently risen. First, some people believe that some of the biggest surprises for the Switch have already been unveiled. A recent leak showed off a number of titles confirmed for the system including a port of Dragon Ball FighterZ; a home version of the Killer Queen arcade game; and a version of Epic Games' Fortnite.

But there was something else. This weekend, Nintendo hosted a free online demo for Mario Tennis Aces, allowing players to partake in match-ups over the weekend. While we enjoyed the game thus far, there are some that complained the online service was iffy. Many investors felt that this would sum up Nintendo's forthcoming online service as a whole, losing confidence in what it would have to offer when it launches this fall.

"They're years and years behind on the network business," said Amir Anvarzadeh, a senior strategist at Asymmetric Advisors in Singapore. "That doesn't mean they can't catch up, but Sony spent billions on fortifying the PlayStation Network expansion."

There may be another reason entirely. Dr. Serkan Toto recently took to Twitter, noting that the stock drop may be related to a "quality of life" project that's been shut down.

Does this mean Nintendo can't pull through? Not necessarily. The company still hasn't revealed its line-up for the rest of 2018. It could have a few surprise Super Smash Bros. combatants coming into the fray; and there's word that a forthcoming StarFox racing game will reinvigorate the franchise. And this is on top of the Pokemon games that were revealed last week.

We'll remain optimistic about what Nintendo has planned for next Tuesday's presentation. But they obviously need to do something to not only keep fans entertained but to also reassure investors that everything will be fine business-wise for the year ahead. Here's hoping they pull out all the stops.

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