Nintendo Switches it Up

New idea drives Nintendo’s interest up – and stock prices down

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Connor Bolli

Nintendo has a long history of breaking ground in their industry. From their classics like the NES to their successful release of the Wii, they have steadily held a reputation for innovative ideas in gaming.

This trend has continued with their announcement of the Nintendo Switch, a hybrid gaming system that strikes an interesting new balance between a home and handheld experience.

The system itself is portable, meant to be carried around both inside and outside the house. However, it can dock into a station connected to a larger screen for a more console-like experience. This combination is an interesting cross between Nintendo’s stakes in both the portable and home gaming markets.

This reveal has led to a large amount of support for the move: people are hyped up for the interesting new technology. In addition, large-scale video game publishers and studios including Bethesda – responsible for the Elder Scrolls series – have announced their support for the system. Games ranging from Sonic to Skyrim will be available on the device, appealing to a wide range of consumers.

Interestingly, the announcement of the new system, despite wide support from the public, was met with a drop in stock price. Nintendo’s stocks fell roughly seven percent soon after the announcement. Aside from this dip, the company has seen a significant rise in their stocks over the course of 2016.

There’s no doubt that the Switch has generated a buzz of excitement within the gaming community, but more information is slow to come: pricing and actual release date will be arriving only in early January in 2017. This has created some doubts about the release due to the lack of news.

In the end, Nintendo has continued their trend of meeting consumers with interesting and unique ideas rather than raw processing power. This new idea of a console-handheld hybrid is especially untouched in the market, and while information may not be available quite yet, the excitement certainly hasn’t been stopped.