Video game company Nintendo Co NTDOY hosted its Nintendo Direct event this week to highlight its upcoming games and plans for the future.
Here’s a look at what’s in store for gamers and why it could be important for Nintendo shareholders.
What Happened: Nintendo highlighted a huge library of titles coming to its Nintendo Switch console. Here are some of the highlighted games from IGN that were covered in the 40 minute presentation:
“Pikmin 4”: 2023, no date
“Fire Emblem Engage”: Jan. 20, 2023
“Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe”: Feb. 24, 2024
“Bayonetta 3”: Oct. 28, 2022
“Final Fantasy Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line”: Feb. 16, 2023
“Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion”: Dec. 13, 2022
“It Takes Two”: Nov. 4, 2022
“Just Dance 2023”: Nov. 22, 2022
The biggest highlight during the presentation was announcing the release date and sharing gameplay for the highly anticipated Zelda game called “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.” The game, which is a sequel to the 2017 title “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” will be released on May 12, 2023.
Along with announcing new titles for the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo also announced several classic N64 games that will be heading to the newest Nintendo console. This list includes “Goldeneye 007,” “Mario Party,” “Mario Party 2,” “Mario Party 3,” “Pokemon Stadium,” “Pokemon Stadium 2” and several more.
The N64 titles will hit the Nintendo Switch in 2022 and 2023.
The “Goldeneye 007” game for the Nintendo Switch will come with online play.
Other announcements included Nintendo saying it would offer a free golf mode update for “Nintendo Switch Sports” and a free update to “Mario Strikers: Battle League.”
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Why It’s Important: Nintendo showed off what could be considered a strong slate of titles that will be released over the next six months. The new titles could help increase sales of the Nintendo Switch.
“The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” is one of the most anticipated video games in recent years and could provide some upside to the Nintendo Switch as an exclusive to the console. The trailer for the video game has over 3.5 million views on YouTube in its first 24 hours and was the number two trending video on the platform.
In 2017, “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” was the fifth bestselling video game across all consoles. The game has continued to sell well over the years and as of the end of 2021 has sold more than 25 million copies. The game is the bestselling Zelda franchise game ever and one of the top selling Nintendo Switch titles of all time.
“Goldeneye 007” was one of the most popular video games of all time, with a release on the Nintendo 64 (N64) console in 1997. Along with a release on the Nintendo Switch, the game will also be remastered for the Xbox. The Xbox game will not feature online multiplayer modes, which will be exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, a move that could bring additional sales.
The James Bond-themed video game sold over 8 million copies and is the third bestselling Nintendo 64 game of all time.
In 2022, Nintendo has three of the top 10 selling video games year-to-date, with “Pokemon Legends: Arceus,” “Kirby and the Forgotten Land” and “Mario Kart 8” ranking third, eighth and ninth respectively, with data from NPD Group.
The Nintendo Switch was released in 2017 and has been a strong seller, with its unit totals trending higher than the Playstation 5 from Sony Group Corp SONY and the Xbox Series X and Series S from Microsoft Corporation MSFT.
Through Sept. 3, the Nintendo Switch is the bestselling video game console by units year-to-date with 10.56 million units sold. This is higher than the 5.27 million and 5.97 million for Xbox and Playstation 5 respectively. Nintendo had a 54.1% market share by units for consoles in 2021 and has a 48.4% market share year-to-date.
The Nintendo Switch is one of the bestselling video game consoles of all time with more than 112 million consoles sold.
NTDOY Price Action: Nintendo shares trade at $54.28 at the time of writing versus a 52-week trading range of $49.76 to $68.25.
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