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What's going on?
Nintendo – the $54 billion creator of everyone’s favorite plumber, Super Mario – saw its stock level up by 3% on Wednesday as it announced three new Pokémon games. Gotta catch ‘em all!
What does this mean?
Building on the success of 2016’s Pokémon Go app and better-than-expected sales of last year’s Nintendo Switch console, Nintendo’s unveiled new games that’ll launch this year, aimed at mixing the easy-to-use nature of the app with the more in-depth storylines of traditional games.
Why should I care?
For markets: Investors are hoping Nintendo reaps the reward this time around.
Investors may be hoping the Pokémon franchise can generate the same level of hype as Pokémon Go – but that, unlike last time, Nintendo can actually use this to boost its bottom line (a.k.a. profit). One of the new games – Pokémon Quest – is free to download and play on the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo is likely hoping it can convince players to spend money in-game on gadgets and upgrades – in a similar approach to Sony focusing on content and Apple locking customers into its services ecosystem as people spend less on hardware and more on content.
The bigger picture: Casual gamers are still an attractive audience.
Fortnite’s breaking records among hardcore gamers – but there’s still life in the casual gamer. Nintendo’s Switch, which can be used both as a home console and a handheld device – along with its smartphone games like Super Mario Run – is helping to reinvigorate the fair weather gamer. A big part of casual gaming’s future success is likely to be augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR). Some analysts predict the AR gaming market will grow more than 150% a year until 2023, reaching a size of almost $300 billion (tweet this) – while the VR gaming market is expected to lag behind, growing by 30% a year to a size of $45 billion in 2025.
Originally posted as part of the Finimize daily email.
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