Nintendo’s shares gain $17.9 billion with surprise hit Pokemon Pokopia
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Released on March 5, Pokemon Pokopia accrued 2.2 million sales in its first four days and earned rave reviews from fans online.
PHOTO: NINTENDO/NYTIMES
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TOKYO – Nintendo is headed for its biggest weekly gain in a decade with a US$14 billion (S$17.9 billion) jump in value propelled by the surprise global smash hit Pokemon Pokopia.
Released on March 5, the new game accrued 2.2 million sales in its first four days and earned rave reviews from fans online. It blends Pokemon characters and lore with gameplay akin to Animal Crossing, emphasising what is known as a cosy life simulation.
Nintendo’s stock has risen in four straight trading sessions and was up 2.7 per cent on March 13.
The strong debut helped reverse some of the losses Nintendo’s shares have incurred due to memory chip shortages since late 2025.
The company is vulnerable to surging memory prices, as they threaten both its margins on the new Switch 2 console and software purchases by players who have to buy increasingly expensive storage cards.
Pokopia, a Switch 2 exclusive, is helping soothe investor worries by drawing in more fans and building the library of must-have games on the platform.
“Nobody anticipated this kind of success, no one expected such high quality,” said Tokyo-based analyst Serkan Toto. “It’s a very rare case of a Nintendo game accidentally ‘blowing up’. It’s the best-rated Pokemon game of all time.”
Nintendo’s rally is all the more notable given the broad downturn in global stocks amid worries over the Iran conflict and spiking oil prices.
The company’s stock is up about 19 per cent so far this week, putting it on track for its steepest weekly climb since July 2016.
Koei Tecmo Holdings, a co-developer on Pokopia, has, like Nintendo, far outperformed the Nikkei 225 benchmark, gaining 4.5 per cent since the game’s release.
“What we’ve seen over the last week is that a portion of investors feel the negativity around Nintendo’s stock has been overdone,” said Mr Nick McKay, senior video game analyst at Freedom Capital Markets.
But he is not yet ready to change his outlook for the Switch 2 console based on the new game’s initial sales. “We need to wait for a bigger number than 2.2 million to see whether this is actually a catalyst for long-term adoption of the Switch 2.” BLOOMBERG
