Nintendo's Market Capitalisation Overtakes Sony's Following Switch Success

I'm sure Sony's movie business is actually hurting them as of late.

Glad to see Nintendo on top though as it can only mean good things to come......hopefully!!

Nice to see Nintendo and the Switch doing well.

It's pretty obvious that both the PS4 and XB1 are suffering from a lack of must have titles this year, even the Star Wars game really isn't as impactful as the last one was. I think I read the market has dropped 500m or something from last year.

I've taken to buying games like Horizon 3 months later when they have almost always dropped by 40%- the fact that games like GTAV is still bothering the charts shows I'm not the only person to do that. So far every Switch game I've bought has been day one, just because they've excited me in a way PS4 games haven't.

It's good for Nintendo but seeing this means Sony must be haemorrhaging money in other sectors of the company.

Good job,Nintendo 😃

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Yeah Sony has sold off several parts of their business and investments lately because everything bar the Playstation division is losing money.

This thread will be funny though. Can't wait for the "Nintendo don't compete with Sony" Nintendrones to quickly change their tune

I'm hoping all this good news entices more third party developers to make games for the Switch.

...and I hope Capcom takes notice!

I knew I should have purchased stock before the Switch came out...

I'm curious to see how many Switch consoles have been sold globally by now.
It seems to be doing well so far.

Go Go Nintendo!

It's a constant back and forth between them.

20 years from now there'll still be articles written saying one just overtook the other.

That's cool and all but where's the 3rd party support Nintendo...

Sorry, I had to

It's ok to be realistic, but it doesn't hurt to be optimistic at times. Good for Nintendo!

So that's why Sony made sure Monster Hunter World didn't go to the Switch (rumour)🤔. That in itself would have shifted consoles as much as Oddysey especially in Japan

@Grumblevolcano I'd like to think 3rd party decelopers will start bandwagoning on Switch's early success. Hopefully, we'll see plenty of non Nintendo games next year.

@Grumblevolcano Third party support is getting patched in 3.1.3 (it was due in 3.0.0, but the file size was too large...)

NintenDomination !!!

Nintendo Switch will take over the World...

Look @get2sammyb damo wrote an article inspired by your twitter post.

@PlayedNSlayed I think the reason it's not coming to the Switch is because it's been in development for Ps4 sense 2013, and the Switch just came out in 2017 so.....

@-DG Same here. I was seriously considering it before the release of the switch, too bad I didn't invest :/

Nice to hear, was already expecting that Nintendo will do really good.
The switch is just genius, i already sold my ps4 a while ago becouse it was collecting alot lf dust.
Now i am waiting what Microsoft or sony will do before i make my choice again, Microsoft got my attention this time, but im not yet convinced.
The switch is an awesome console and all those AA third party games of they arive on switchh will be in my collection. I hope for final fantasy 7 remake to appear on the switch.

@Switch81tch maybe, but I think temporarily pulling out of other sectors will hurt Sony once they try to get back in the game. Brand recall and confidence is a big thing. Nokia doesn't look like they'll be reaching anywhere near their heyday, for example.

Their best bet is to stay in the game (be it TVs or other appliances) and try to innovate instead.

@Spoony_Tech Sony's only business that's consistently performed well in a while is its video game sector. I've read in many of my business school books that Sony is largely a fading brand, which is true for the most part. PlayStation has carried that sinking ship for a while.

Regardless, I wouldn't read too much into this, all the stock price indicates is that the market believes management is running the company well. While that's probably true right now, it's largely based on gut feelings, which is why I hate the stock market.

Cha Ching!

@IronMan28
Um... so basically Sony started to going down slowly regardless of Switch's impact or not ?

Sonydoooooomed.........just kidding.....

Nintendo does well with portable devices and the market sees the Switch as that. Until they hit a lull in sales and demand expect the stocks to inch up. A good time to sell would probably be right before their investors meeting in January, until then it should continue to rise or maintain it's price. The investor meeting will probably cause a fall because holiday sales won't meet the unrealistic expectations of the day traders

Let's all take a moment to think of poor Mahe... He must be sat in a corner crying somewhere...

While I feel Nintendo probably won't be able to maintain its current market valuation l lead over Sony, their current rising stock value should brush away concerns that investors only find Wii/DS-level profits acceptable.

@yuwarite
Wow...that guy was so salty about the Switch...

He actually tried to convince people that MK8D wasn't a success because it couldn't match the sales of MK Wii...

@westman98

Don't you love it when the goalposts for even breaking the mark of "success" is to surpass one of the best selling games/consoles of all time?

I doubt we'll ever see another PS2/DS level of success for a single console or handheld for a while.

@Anti-Matter I'm not sure I understand the question, but I'll give it a shot.
Sony's been bleeding cash as a company for a while now, and PS has been keeping it afloat since about 2010. It's recovered some, but there was a five year span where the company lost money. Nobody emphasizes that on gaming sites because it pertains to the parent company and not the PS brand. But before the PS3's turnaround and the PS4, Sony was doing pretty badly. I believe they've recovered decently, but they're still not in great shape overall.

In short, yes.

@Action51
I actually expect the Switch to outsell the Wii in Japan given that it is a portable and will recieve some incredibly popular portable gaming franchises (Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Monster Hunter, Yokai Watch, Dragon Quest, etc).

Buy no, the Switch probably won't outsell the Wii worldwide, and it definitely won't do DS/PS2 numbers.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE the only thing keeping Sony afloat is the PlayStation brand.

*golfclap

All Nintendo has to do going forward is not **** this up.

I mean, the N64, GC, and Wii U all had strong sales starts too--and the Wii U actually had a load of untapped potential in the various features of the hardware and possible services that could have been brought to it--but Nintendo let those consoles fall behind the competition, and in the Wii U's case it just totally and utterly dropped the ball.

If Nintendo can do things right going forward with the Switch, which includes things like nailing the Virtual Console and online service, possible price drops in the future, ensure it has a constant stream of solid first party titles, keeping all the indies on board, securing far more big AAA third party content, keep adding in the various firmware features and services that people expect to see, and just general stuff like that, then the Switch has a chance at being its best selling console of all time.

Only Nintendo can really **** this up for everyone from here on out imo--and I'm still not entirely convinced it won't.

@impurekind - In retrospect, the Wii U isn't a bad console at all.

It could have been more powerful and had a larger internal HDD, but it also had some nice features and a great exclusive library to offset some of it's flaws.

One of the biggest hurdles was that Nintendo didn't advertise it enough, and the gaming media were too busy reporting on how "confused" people were about what it was to you know...inform people as the media is supposed to do. *

(*no their job isn't to sell the console, but they should have informed people rather than adding to the confusion)

Nice, but, what does this market cap actually do for Nintendo? Does it help with production? Improve development?

@Action51 It's not a particularly satisfying console either imo. In fact, for me personally, it's probably one of Nintendo's most disappointing consoles overall. It did, however, initially have all the potential in the world to be something amazing.

@impurekind I completely agree , it was a shame the Wii U turned out to be such a missed opportunity in so many ways it really is and was a great console and now we have the Nintendo Switch in which I completely agree with your statement, "all Nintendo has to do is not **** this up going forward " so very true..

@Menchi187 the only funny "sonydrone" post so far is yours. They're only competing in one sector, and even there even when Sony "wins" in home console sales they are always losing when it comes to handhelds, which is why they've abandoned them altogether, as they have done with plenty of other things and they will with VR as well

@impurekind - Here's the part where we have to "agree to disagree" because ultimately satisfaction with a console is individual and subjective.

However;
I think a lot of people buy into the hype that gaming media and internet buzz creates...it's a demographic of mostly young males who tend to have disposable income and low self-esteem that prioritize spedning on tech and gadgets...so the manipulation of their buying habits is practically a science.

Anyway, the powers of hype that be told us the Wii U sucked, and the Switch is great...so far. I think a lot of people are susceptible to this sort of groupthink.

Well done Nintendo. It's also good Sony's business has turned round also this gen...

Makes sense, the Playstation brand is the strongest thing Sony has going, even that could be in danger as they start mixing in PSVR and 4Pro hardware.

PC division tanked, their electronics are constantly being out-done by other companies, blu-ray is all but dried up as 4K/UHD sales grow, and their entertainment division isnt doing them any favors (the new Spider-Man may help change that slightly).

@MrGawain I agree, I am so unexcited by ps4 and xbone that I didnt buy them. I waited for switch, NX at the time. Have bought switch games day 1 as well. Excited.

@MrGawain Glad you're enjoying the Switch! You seem to have a strange perception of the market though. There have been several highly rated and successful game releases on PS4 so far this year, including your example of Horizon Zero Dawn, which has sold over 3.4 million copies.

@Switch81tch I agree with you! Sony's products (Playstation aside) have been pretty unremarkable in the last few years. When I bought a TV for the Playstation, I only looked at LG and Samsung; Sony didn't even come into play at all. And I'm not sure how they can scale up their development, given that they are hemorrhaging money outside their games division.

@MrGawain yep Reggie said during E3 that he was aware that some people were asking Nintendo to cut 3DS support but the 3DS was the only console that had a grow last year and is still selling strong. Plus is right now at basically 70m world wide. He said that there is still good business to do there so they will continue the support. Is actually kinda crazy that 3DS was the only console that grow last year.

Nah internet told me Nintendoom.

Nintendo please stop we are tired of all the winning!! 😂🍾🥂

@SomeWriter13

Yup. I feel good for Big N, but this success has to translate to more third party support before I say it's great news.

@IronMan28 Well, yeah. If I remember right, Sony was the top consumer electronics company in the 90s. They were quite innovative and also sold premium merchandise. Somewhere along the line they lost that innovative spirit and just started focusing on adding a lot of features to their products.

How Nintendo could win the holiday season every year for the next 10 years:

2017: Release Super NES Classic Edition
2018: Release Game Boy Classic Edition
2019: Release N64 Classic Edition
2020: Release Game Boy Color Classic Edition
2021: Release GameCube Classic Edition
2022: Release GBA Classic Edition
2023: Release Wii Classic Edition
2024: Release DS Classic Edition
2025: Release Wii U Classic Edition
2026: Release 3DS Classic Edition
2027: Release Switch Classic Edition

@Grumblevolcano Ummm...Remember the Wiiu? Now, the Switch hasn't been on the market for even half a year, right? Sooo, why are we expecting floods of third party games at this point in the Switch's life span? ...Or maybe you're kidding.

Best thing Sony could do is off-load everything apart from their gaming division, to many eggs in one basket, many have cracked. Also spending so much on pushing VR, which I personally think will do worse than Vita will cost them, difference is vita makes them money and VR won't, not this gen

@EDF I'm with you on the VR bit. AR is probably going to overtake it in a few years and Sony will have put money into something that never quite goes mainstream. With Apple and Microsoft investing heavily in AR, it looks like it will become the next trend.

@PlayedNSlayed I think there's s chance capcom are working on monster hunter for Switch, but it won't be a spin-off game and E3 next year will show Monster Hunter 5 and it will be on Switch.

@SomeWriter13 AR is way more advanced, more realistic, has way more applications and nowhere nearly as destructive to your eyes as VR

@SomeWriter13 I'd include playstation with that. Sales figures say otherwise but the PS4 is THE most unremarkable console Sony has ever made. It's brought nothing but shinier graphics and a stripped down version of all the services found on PS3, truely awful machine.

@DESS-M-8 you have a point regarding the PS4 lack of innovation outside graphics.

I think the graphics arms race between MS and Sony is one of the reasons why analysts are bullish on Nintendo's future. There's only so much horsepower you can put into a machine without it becoming too expensive. If the XBOX One X is any indicator, we're likely to see $799 machines in the near future. (Like how the powerhouse Samsung Galaxy Note 8 phone is rumored to cost almost $1,000). That's not a good long term plan.

After 4K is likely 8K, which is likely the maximum resolution the human eye can distinguish. What's next after that? More horsepower to the console? At what cost?

The tough part about all this for Sony is that they have put their buyers into that "moar power is innovation" mindset, and all it does is drive up the cost of production. Third party developers are faced with the same issue, which is why many are doing retro bit graphics to stem the tide.

Don't get me wrong, graphics still impress me. But the graphics of NieR: Automata doesn't wow me as much as Breath of the Wild has, even if the former is on a powerhouse console. I think it's all down to more organic design, in my humble opinion.

1990's : Sega VS Nintendo.

2017 : Sony VS Nintendo.

Who'd have thought it?

@gatorboi352 the only thing keeping Sony afloat is the PlayStation brand.

And even that is one device out of the last three Playstation systems they created(PS3, PSVITA and PS4).

The Playstation TV (VITA TV) flopped, PSNOW shrank and started dropping devices. And PSVR is rather lukewarm, their recent big successes was releasing two PS4 iterations(slim and Pro) during the same year.

Looks like Nintendo's "something coming every month" strategy is having a much bigger impact then even they expected. Can't wait till Splatoon 2 releases because it'll be interesting to see what sort of impact that will bring.

@electrolite77 the PS4 hasn't brought about those games, third party developers have and those games would have been just as good on PS3. Uncharted 4!!! As good as it was Uncharted 2 was the best one and was on much weaker hardware, but a superior format to PS4.

THE biggest innovation of the last 15 years is the Switch. The potential for the explosion in online multiplayer gaming using such high powered mobile hardware has really opened up and changed how we can all approach online gaming.

I was at work last week, had a dinner break; within 1 minute i was online playing somebody in America on Arms. Not a mobile version, the full home HD software.
That is mindblowing.

Once the user base goes up, potentially you can add CoD, Battlefield, Madden and Monster Hunter into that online arena. You've got something industry changingly huge

@greengecko007

I sort of meant there was a lack of big titles leading up to Christmas on the PS4 and XB1. Red Dead could have been it. Spider or God of War would have been compelling for Christmas, but I imagine they'll be March to May titles. The XB1 has Crackdown 3, but most people don't seem to care any more. The truth is that both companies are relying on the regular 3rd party sequelitis games that don't have the wow factor of an exclusive like Mario Odyssey.

@Action51 Listen, don't say we have to "agree to disagree" and then try to accuse me of being a sheep stuck in group think. YOU are the one who can't see all the glaring disappointments with the Wii U:

1. It's grossly under-powered compared to the competition.
2. The Virtual Console on it was a total and utter joke.
3. It was and still is overpriced for what it is.
4. Very few games ever really took full advantage of its unique features and capabilities.
5. It's online, friend system, and chat stuff could have been much better.
5. The major AAA third party support on--there wasn't really much major AAA third party support on it.
6. A bunch of Nintendo's big/favourite franchises didn't see new release on it.
7. The battery life was terrible.
8. The system range meant the potentially brilliant feature of being to play it away from the TV was largely redundant.
9. Interesting features/services that were touted before launch either never saw the light of day or what removed shortly thereafter
10. Nintendo basically dropped it like a frikin' bomb the second its new system was announced--making it one of the shortest lived/supported Nintendo consoles ever.

If you have a lot of disposable income, where you can basically spend money and not really care what level of quality product/service you get for it, especially compared to other competing products, then maybe that stuff isn't really a big deal and you personally just enjoyed the Wii U for what it was--but that's hardly the most unbiased and objective way to judge a system's true greatness and worth imo.

Back in the day basically everyone loved and respected the SNES--even Sega Genesis/Mega Drive fanboys knew it was absolutely brilliant and delivered in basically every way a console of its time could---only fanboys are sitting here thinking the Wii U was something better than OK with a few highs here and there (a feat almost every main console in the history of time has at least managed).

No, I don't "agree to disagree".

And it's far, far too early to decide if the Switch is "great" or not--it's still suffering from many of the same issues the Wii U did right now (lack of third party support, crap battery life, over-priced, non-existent Virtual Console and undefined online, under-powered compared to the competition, etc), despite getting a few things right and selling very well so far.

@electrolite77 games are games no metter what they are on.

As a piece of hardware, the PS4 bring nothing new to the gaming community, except for a "share" button. The PS4 has stripped away more features from this gen since PS3 than it has brought new features.

PS4 is Sony's worst console yet.

@electrolite77 neither am I playing down the PS4 to benefit the Switch. I am putting down the PS4 as somebody has owned a PS4 for the Last 3 years and bored of how appalling a console is. I've played playstation for the last 20 years and by a clear mile the PS4 is their worst iteration yet.

By contrast The Switch is Nintendos best yet, and in my opinion it is THE single best piece of gaming hardware yet. The potential for how much it can hangs gaming forever is immense.

@MrGawain Well, Sony's model this entire generation has been to release their games in the earlier part of the year, while western third parties or other big games usually take the holiday period. They've been successful with that too, and so has Nintendo. If third parties feel like they need to have the new holiday releases to shine, so be it. Nintendo and Sony have shown with their games that release before then and aren't suddenly forgotten about come the holidays.

As for the games releasing though, the truth is actually that those games, regardless of being sequels or exclusives, are major releases. Glad you are stoked for Mario Odessey. But the most press covered game that received the most attention was found to be AC Origins.

http://www.dualshockers.com/micrsoft-won-e3-2017-assassins-creed-origins-most-covered-game/

@roboshort That's partially true, but product development is not always a bad strategy. In Sony's case, they largely have failed in developing meaningful products that resonate with the market outside of the PS line. So, yeah, product development is not a good strategy for them right now.

It's time for Nintendo to outshine Sony for once.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Not really. Sometimes Nintendo has a higher market cap, sometimes it's Sony. Market cap is in a sense independent of of profits, sales, etc. Sony or Nintendo could lose a billion dollars, and still have a higher market cap the next day. Nintendo could sell out all their Switchs, 3ds, sell 10 million copies of a random game, and their market cap could still go down the next day.

I remember the days when Sony was like Apple. They dominated movies with films like Men in Black and Spider Man, music with the walkman, TVs with their color television diaplays, and gaming with the PS1 and especially the PS2.

Now, Sony just has their insurance business and PlayStation. Quite the decline. Reminds me a lot of Nintendo's decline going from the Wii/DS to the Wii U/3DS.

@MsgBoardGamer You're not a fanboy if you like the Wii U; your're a fanboy if you're too blind/biased to see/admit its many issues and that beyond the hardcore Nintendo fans it was very disappointing in so many ways. And, to then try and twist the truth to fit the viewpoint of the the fanboys--even going so far as to basically say people were only down on it because they were sheep--just compounds that.

@impurekind - I wanted to read your tirade, but after saying the virtual console was "a total and utter joke" I stopped reading.

Why?

Not because I disagree, but because your responses are steeped with anger, and you are trying to pass off opinions - opinions which perfectly mirror the group-think narratives...as fact.

@electrolite77 - and yet...most people who actually own one ended up really liking it.

Many of your points are just conveniently plucked narratives like that "confusing" gamepad.

Oh my god...it's a controller with a screen on it, it's not like it's a stick that looks like a TV remote lacking most of it's buttons, wired to a weird grip that looks like a power point clicker with a stick on it...

I'm of course describing the Wii-mote and Nunchuck, which somehow didn't manage to confuse people despite being a much more strange looking concept.

Now I agree it's wonderful news. But don't you think SpiderMan Homecoming's predictable success will push Sony's value higher? Just saying.

P.S NintenDomination!!!

My two favourite consoles of all time are the Dreamcast and the wiiU. But because I think that the wiiU was the best Nintendo console it makes me a fanboy, why. Surely I should be singing the praises of whatever new venture Nintendo goes into regardless of my actual views if that was the case.
I'm glad Nintendo as a brand is doing so well, they are starting to diversify a little bit more than they have and letting other companies use their brand in non video gaming ways and I think it's paying off with the switch. I have yet to upgrade, I'm not too bothered by the titles at the moment because I'm still happy with my New3DS / wiiU combo but no doubt when the right game comes along.
Sony made a great comeback with the PS4 and really tried to keep the momentum and mabey Nintendo will too. Either way it has to be good for gaming.

@Action51 The Wii U Virtual Console IS a total and utter joke, and whether I say it with "anger" or not doesn't change the fact. You say it your way and I'll say it my way. And, if you don't like my way then please do feel free not to get involved in or comment on my way.

And, trust me, you are way more likely to fall into the trap of participating in group-think than I am.

Of that I am 1000% sure.

@MsgBoardGamer I never said the other consoles didn't have weaknesses too. But, out of all of Nintendo's consoles, the SNES had pretty much the least weaknesses and the Wii U is right up there with those that had/have the most weakness (all things being considered relative to their time of course). This does not mean it doesn't also have some strengths too. But if one were to measure the overall rating of a console based on starting with a certain number, let's say 10, then adding a point for each positive and taking away a point for each negatives--again, all things being considered relative to their time--the Wii U would score lower than many other Nintendo consoles, and the likes of NES and SNES would score the highest. So, I'm just giving the Wii U it's due "score", as it were. As far as I'm concerned it's one of Nintendo's all-round most disappointing home consoles ever.

@electrolite77 what are you talking about?

@MsgBoardGamer I'd prefer to play the great SNES games, the ones you'll find time and time again in the Top 25 Best SNES Games lists*, over most of the AAA games today (which I generally find bland visually with their "realistic" and "gritty" graphics, and are often over-designed in terms of controls, interface, and gameplay, while actually being more linear, scripted and restrictive much of the time). And, most of the best SNES games stand up far better today than any other console's games after that, particularly the early 3D systems, and not just in terms of visuals but also controls too. Most SNES games were designed to run at 60fps, with slowdown only happening if too much stuff was thrown around on-screen; only cutting-edge games like Star Fox aimed for a lower framerate by default. This isn't nostalgia; it's just true.

*That's actually a whole load of the games bundled with the SNES Mini.

@electrolite77 - I really can't stress this enough: It's a controller, with a screen on it.

I just conveyed the concept to you in one short statement. Both the Wii and the Switch require more explanation for their controllers.

You can insist it's confusing all you want, but it's a controller with a screen on it. We all know what controllers and screens are.

@electrolite77 I don't need to look anything up. I think you might though, I've not mentioned the Wii U gamepad once.

@MsgBoardGamer I know, but the point is that they were generally designed to be 60fps experiences, which is a good thing. But, yes, slowdown did happen in some of the more action-heavy titles on occasion--although it usually just made those moments easier to play rather than make them harder or less fun, which is often the case with slowdown in modern 3D games.

And, it's not an "opinion" that this is the case; it just is the case.

Also, many of the things I listed about Wii U above are just objective facts too.

But, yes, you're entitled to some random opinion. It is after all a free world.

@MsgBoardGamer I didn't say the games relied on unintended frame drops to make them easier to play--what a stupid notion--I basically said that was just an unintended benefit.

If Fallout, Star Wars Battlefront, and Destiny gets a port on the Switch, Square Enix decides to work with Nintendo again, Earthbound, Kid Icarus, F-Zero and StarTropics are brought back, Sega brings back their classic franchises, and the next Animal Crossing has videogames you can collect, I think I can die happy.