Nintendo Valued at $85 Billion USD

By Tim Conneally, BetaNews

October 15, 2007, 12:18 PM

Nintendo's diminutive, modestly-powered gaming machines have helped make it the third most valuable company in Japan, behind Toyota Motor Corp and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group - Japan's biggest bank.

Nintendo's stock rose 5.3 Percent on Monday, putting a market value of 10 Trillion Yen ($85 billion USD) on the once-struggling Japanese company.

A couple of new exclusive titles for the now one year-old Wii are expected to drive major sales: Wii Fit and the new installment of Monster Hunter. The latter, a Capcom title, was a big success for Sony's consoles, but further episodes of the franchise are not planned for the PS3.

The casual gaming market, an audience sometimes known as "sisters, moms, and girlfriends," has been an immense aid to Nintendo's success. Casual games, which typically have a shallower learning curve and demand less of a time investment, are quite at home with the unique, modular control schemes of Nintendo's systems.

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By Steve Austin

posted Oct 16, 2007 - 2:11 PM

Wii is the kiddie-konsole.

Score: 0

By GamerTex.com

posted Oct 16, 2007 - 4:47 AM

dang! Bestbuy had them in their Sunday Ad again and they were still sold out within minutes of opening where I live.

Tex
www.GamerTex.com

Score: 0

By auiotour

edited Oct 15, 2007 - 7:53 PM

So x360 has such a better line up, then why do they not even have a single game in the top 15. Notice Halo is the only one. Which the first Halo Microsoft had nearly no programming except helping port it from Macintosh to xbox.

It's also shows even though Playstation had much higher sales with psone and ps2, only one of their games made the the top 15 as well. Which is Final Fantasy VII which was originally due out on Nintendo's Super Nintendo CD, before Nintendo canceled it and Sony started developing their own system and bought a majority stake into Square in order to make them only design games for Sony's new Playstation.

http://www.vgchartz.com/

*What's even funnier is taking a lot at their top 50. notice hardly any ps or xbox games. Just cause someone sells more doesn't mean they produce quality games that are remembered and loved. Now if Nintendo is for kids, and this site's game list is rated by users, You don't often see 5 year olds getting on to rate games.

Score: 0

By sumone

edited Oct 15, 2007 - 2:32 PM

Score: 0

By kashin

posted Oct 15, 2007 - 1:24 PM

Frankly, I wish it was still Nintendo vs. Sega (and maybe Atari) battling it out in the console arena. I wish neither Sony nor Microsoft had ever entered the console market. I guess that's just me.

Score: 0

By yountmj

posted Oct 15, 2007 - 3:25 PM

Believe me, you're not the only one.

Score: 0

By TomeOne

posted Oct 15, 2007 - 1:01 PM

Good for them. They came back out of a slump and showed the industry a thing or two.

Score: 0

By pitdingo

posted Oct 15, 2007 - 12:42 PM

You have to show Nintendo some respect. Despite being written off by everyone, including myself, they have come back to dominate this video game generation.

The Wii continues to sell out everywhere and the demand has no signs of slowing. And to add to that, a slew of AAA exclusive titles lined up, including a Mario game, and the stage is set for Nintendo to leave M$ and Sony to wallow in their failed consoles.

Good luck getting a Wii this holiday...i have mine ;)

Score: 0

By yountmj

posted Oct 15, 2007 - 3:24 PM

The Wii console sales "dominate"... that's about it. That is not the whole picture, however. While they have a few must-have gems, Wii game review scores and sales are outnumbered by PS2 and Xbox 360 titles... badly. The only console that gets consistently worse scores on gameplay and depth are PS3 titles.

Aside from that, I give Nintendo a lot of respect and credit for being innovative with their latest console, but it could have been so much more.

"Good luck getting a Wii this holiday...i have mine"

You keep saying that in just about every thread you've mentioned the Wii, and as usual, it's an exaggeration. It's not hard to find a Wii console. I see them constantly (albeit in small numbers) in retail outlets all over my town. Find any site that sells the Wii, and tell me of one that shows "Out Of Stock".

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Oct 15, 2007 - 11:06 PM

It's funny... the reviews aren't as good, but more people end up buying them? Nintendo games sales are dominating as much as their console sales - not surprisingly, really. The amazing thing is the killer games are still to come, as the article suggests: a new Mario game, and the one I'm hanging out for which is the new Smash Bros. :)

I don't have my console yet Pitingo... but I'm waiting for Smash Bros so hopefully they'll be readily available by Feb. :p

Score: 0

By pitdingo

edited Oct 15, 2007 - 4:18 PM

Find any site that sells the Wii, and tell me of one that shows "Out Of Stock".

www.amazon.com is sold out.

Good luck finding a Wii for the holidays. I have mine ;)

Score: 0

By kashin

posted Oct 15, 2007 - 1:27 PM

I very much doubt there will be a shortage of Wii consoles this holiday season. I'm sure Nintendo has ramped up production and can throw several million units into the retail channel as demand dictates.

Score: 0

By Joey Deacon

posted Oct 15, 2007 - 1:15 PM

Funny, out of all the consoles this year, virtally every online site, is saying how the Wii lineup sucks badly, with basically only Mario and Metroid anything even remotely decent.

The 360 and PS3 have the killer games this season it seems.

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Oct 15, 2007 - 11:08 PM

And yet Nintendo are outselling their competitors by a significant margin - what does that tell you?

Score: 0

By plague201

edited Oct 15, 2007 - 1:17 PM

"The 360 and PS3 have the killer games this season it seems."

Yeah, and it shows.. [sarcasm off]
http://www.vgchartz.com/

Although, I do love playing Halo 3. I took a break from metroid this week.

Score: 0

By Michael.Hatamoto

edited Oct 15, 2007 - 11:31 PM

Microsoft has their hit title, but PS3 gamers are likely to be disappointed this holiday season.

As to getting a Wii this holiday season, I agree that it's going to be insanely difficult to pick one up. A lot of the stores around here still see people waiting before the store opens to pick one up!

Congrats to Nintendo...

Score: 0

By Joey Deacon

posted Oct 15, 2007 - 5:06 PM

That link shows console sales, and nothing to do with upcoming Xmas games, so I fail to see your point.

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Oct 15, 2007 - 11:07 PM

It's shows the most popular games - the majority of which are Nintendo titles.

Score: 0

By Matrix3000k

posted Oct 15, 2007 - 1:09 PM

I was at Best Buy 6 months ago and they did have some in stock. I bought mine right away from them and let me tell you, I love that machine. I have the PS3 and its a great system but when I have my friends over it gets very competitive between us on the Wii than the PS3. I am glad Nintendo has come back strong and kicking the crap out of sony and especially MS. I wish them the best of luck. Next month Mario Galaxy is out!!!! Can't Wait!!

Score: 0