2020 has been a pig of a year, thanks mostly to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has forced much of the world into lockdown and claimed the lives of over a million people.
However, there is light at the end of the tunnel following the news that pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech have come up with a vaccine which is 90% effective in treating the virus. Some are optimistically predicting that the world could even start returning to normality as early as spring 2021, which is fantastic news.
Of course, one side effect of a pandemic which forces millions to remain indoors is that people have had more time to play video games, and that's had a positive impact on the commercial fortunes of multiple companies, including Nintendo.
So the news that the enforced lockdown is coming to an end was predictably met with a rather negative reaction on the stock market, as share prices for Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft, Activision and even fitness firm Pelaton and video calling company Zoom all took a slight dive.
It's worth noting that almost all of these companies have seen their share value stabilise since the drop, but the reason for the wobble is pretty plain to see – the world is about to get back to normal, and that means that indoor pursuits like video games are going to see a drop-off in terms of sales.
[source shacknews.com]
Comments 79
Ugh, the stock market is so absurdly reactionary.
Wishful thinking, if you ask me. Vaccines take years to put in the market for the general public and there's good reasons for that.
This is just the stock market being dumb. The vaccine news was way overhyped - I mean it was based on only 89 cases of Covid in vaccine subjects. Good vaccines don't stop Covid they make it much more mild and brief. So you need many thousands of brief mild Covid cases in vaccine test subjects across all genders, ages, and ethnicities, to be able to say you have a good vaccine. We're still a long way from when a good safe proven widely effective vaccine is given to billions of people. Once investors realise these basic facts gaming stocks will go up again.
They'll have a shock when they realise people still play video games regardless of whether an option to go outside exists or not
The stocks of certain industries are over inflated right now, including Nintendo’s. These will stabilise sooner or later.
The issue in the long term is gonna be more about job losses, economic downturns and stock market crashes which will cause way more trouble for Nintendo and the like moving foreword (sorry to be a downer).
But hey, at least we can all hide in bunkers and play on our Switches while the world burns.
PS A 6%-9% drop in stock prices isn't slight. For healthy companies with large market capitalizations those are relatively large drops for investors.
So Microsoft didn't drop?
So they're concerned about fewer people stuck at home to play videogames and not, say, more people being in sufficient health, spirits and income conditions to buy and play videogames.
Haha — there is nothing like "world returning to normal". COVID changed world already and is just a little period of big and fundamental changes humans need to undergo. "Hey Joe, when you are done with COVID, please come over and check out the climate change, polarised nations, inequality of life quality in the world or any other serious topic." But I am not saying that games won't persist. Just returning to normal is not real.
1. Stock values represent investor habits and hardly correlate (sometimes contradicting actually) with scientific advancements.
2. I am all for a suitable vaccine, but given the low accuracy of the antibody testing thus far I don't have much faith in a rushed vaccine for COVID. Vaccines aren't typically effective against pathogens that mutate quickly within populations, hence why the influenza vaccine must be constantly updated and still has a rather low effective rate.
@Lionyone
Microsoft and Sony are the least likely to drop considering they're launching new systems this week.
@LinkSword I won't be having one. I hope they don't force people to have one by saying you have to in order to go to work. That's so wrong. Governments can't be trusted, let a lone with a vaccine that's been rushed through.
God, the world is broken...
Money money money...
@Lionyone But they tested on almost 44,000 people, not 89?
All stocks are all over the place the last 24 hours, US seems to have gone down but EU seems to have gone up.
Everyone is panicking and stocks are just rich man's betting ground
That’s the vaccine President Trump spearheaded.
@PlayedNSlayed Dude, I totally agree. Was happy to read your post.
"2020 has been a pig of a year"
Hey, there's nothing wrong with pigs. Leave them alone. 🐷🐖
I find it funny that they'd assume the world will "go back to normal" soon, when, in the case Trump's lawsuits change nothing, Biden confirmed he wants to extend the lockdowns again.
We aren't getting "normal" back if Biden steals this election.😂
Bit crazy how there's a vaccine already. There's no vaccine for AIDS, for example and that has been around for a long time with LOTS of money and research put into it. Not too keen on that tbh.
i don't trust a vaccine that was made in less then a year(6 months to be exact), remember the AIDS and cancer vaccine that after 20/30 years of development is still not ready to be used, why trust a Vaccine that is complete in less then a year? and Stock Market react to almost everything that happen in the world, after all the investors/Shareholders want to make sure they money is in good hands.
Bill GAteS is goINg to puT a chIp in the vaCcine SO wE all bUY XBOxes!!! FAcT! thE BIDEn crime fAmILy HaS SHAres in MICRosofT its alL ConNEcted!
@PlayedNSlayed based.
Maybe the powers that be will just give everyone a shot of Vitamin C and stop breathlessly reporting every case? I'd almost be fine with it if it meant we could have human connection again.
@PlayedNSlayed The trouble with connecting dots is when you have enough of them, you can make anything you like appear.
@Moon @LinkSword
Aids is a much more complex situation, not nearly comparable to a Corona virus.
This comment sections makes me want to delete my account here
causation does not equal correlation
@Lionyone Microsoft gaming revenue is 5% of the company so no reason for them to fall by this
Just make sure the vaccine has ZERO effect on anything to do with my vital man parts. Video games aren't the only things that are fun
And spring is still half a year away. And who knows how readily available it will be. And you just know people are going to start to relax and be reckless. Even this articles wording is a bit irresponsible.
LOL at the conspiracy theorists on here. Get a life, please.
Please do not feed the trolls, everyone.
Epidemiologists say it can take another six months for production and distribution to get the vaccine to the general public, so maybe late spring early summer. Medical staff/frontline workers get it first this winter.
(If anyone wants to hear how they are making covid vaccines quickly & safely, Bill Nye's podcast, Scinece Rules!, Sept 29 episode called, "Dude, where's my vaccine?" explains it. duration 27 min. It's entertaining, not as dry as you might think.)
@Giancarlothomaz ...Cancer literally can't have a vaccine. It's not a virus. And to our current knowledge, a vaccine will never work for HIV due to the nature of the virus (though that won't stop people from trying. Try comparing it to the Influenza vaccine, which is usually completed in around 9 months to a year. Don't see people complaining about that (well except the idiots who think it's a conspiracy)
@PlayedNSlayed Your entire thesis has been debunked multiple times by reputable scientific sources. Please stop spreading disproven conspiracy theories, especially on a gaming site.
@Slowdive yes i aware of this, but i still have found very suspicious how this vaccine is complete in less then a year, most vaccines take 20/30 years to be developed and completed, at least 5 years to make this kinda of vaccine.
@link3710 i see, but i believe one day, they gonna develop a Vaccine that can cure people of AIDS(even with severals things pointing up this is very hard to do, like you said).
@PlayedNSlayed Joao Doria the State Governor of Sao Paulo(brazil), where i live is trying to make the Coronovirus vaccine obrigatory to everyone here, this link exactly to what you have said about the vaccine of Coronavirus.
Satellites will be next, when all realise the earth is flat.
I didn't read the title. I just saw astral chain and thought 'sequel?'
@link3710 You can prevent cervical cancer with a HPV vaccine. But your point is well made.
I mean, we are back to normal here pretty much and have been since April because we closed our provincial borders off to the other Canadian provinces and it worked really damn well. I got to enjoy a normal summer and got to see whoever I wanted to.
Had people listened and worn masks and been less selfish this would have been over a lot sooner.
@Yanina I feel you. It is just ***** depressing.
@WoomyNNYes : Thanks for the tip. I'm assuming this is the Bill Nye the science guy. I'll take a listen.
Btw, many of the comments are on point about a vaccine. This is going to take much longer to get out there due to ongoing safety research, and then eventually manufacturing enough for a world population.
Why does anyone expect normality ever again? Yes the vaccine will come and yes it will take a time to roll out and then what? We have the flu vaccine since 80 years and yet people still are dying from it, and about the same amount as from COVID and so noone really bothered.
What will change exactly with COVID vaccine?
And I'm not even talking about long term studies and (side)effects yet.
@Jacob1092 Yeah but if you have none it just as bad.
@Debo626 You DO know that at least the Great Reset part is public knowledge right? Ever read into Agenda 2030? How do you think they want to achieve all of this in less than 10 years. If you really want reputable sources and care a little bit about your future you really should google up Klaus Schwab from the international economy forum. He lays it out very plainly and easy to understand to where this trip is going. No conspiracy at all. Completely openly available information.
This comment section....
@carlos82 Wait, there's an option to go outside?!? Maybe I'll have to try to unlock that achievement after I've cleared a few more games off of my backlog.
@Tyranexx So what, obviously people are upset about the thing that affects all of our lives in a major way.
It's hard to have a sane conversation about this topic, because people always get shamed and ridiculed ONE way or the OTHER.
Which is sad.
All hail capitalism the lord and master of western society! Dissent is not tolerated!
I appreciate all the Trump supporters volunteering to demonstrate their stupidity. My Ignore button has been idle lately.
EDIT @Yanina: You don't find the Ignore button cathartic?
The entire medical establishment is overtaken by people who resort to magical thinking. Papers and journals are full of it.
@Slowdive Fascinating. Do you have specific examples?
Good to know, I will change my investment strategy based on your information, NL. Thank you!
Pretty sad that the stock market is reacting negatively to good news. Capitalism > human lives, I suppose.
Investors freak out about a news announcement. So normal day on the stock market yea?
@Scollurio I welcome sane conversation. Covid-19 is a serious topic and has affected almost everyone the world over in different ways. The problem is, sane conversation is hard to come by on most of the internet.
Some of these comments are roping politics into an article where they aren't even mentioned, thus I don't feel they're appropriate here. Cue those who feel differently about aspects of that subject, sometimes with thoughtful remarks, sometimes with intentionally inflammatory ones. Eventually it often turns into a proverbial screaming match where both (or multiple) sides are yelling at each other at the top of their lungs while plugging their ears. I've interneted enough that I know the signs. Very little to no productive discourse can occur in such situations. So I nope out of them.
It's normal for humans to disagree; one is hard-put to find someone who agrees with them on every subject, thing, position or idea. Respectful disagreement is fine. But shutting down an opinion of another, slapping them with all sorts of labels due to a single opinion, and/or subsequently ignoring them just because they don't conform to the positions and/or echo chambers of another is wrong in my book. There is so much more to a person than just where they stand on a single issue.
(Edit: I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in particular here; this stems from my own observations over time with multiple people and groups.)
Are we really talking about COVID-19 on a Nintendo fan website? Wow
I can't believe Trump supporters talk about cheating when the man himself was far from innocent.
@westman98, the Stock Market is neither a benevolent or malevolent entity. It's just guessing that because of the vaccine that more people will be spending more time/money on outdoor activities, so businesses largely focusing on mostly indoor activities, such as gaming, won't be worth as much as they are now when people are staying indoors more.
On the flip side, companies that focus on outdoor recreation will probably have their stock prices improve on the news of the vaccine.
I'm being very cautiously optimistic with this announcement by Pfizer. Emphasis on the cautious. Even if they got a working vaccine, it needs to be certified as being entirely safe, then mass produced (in this case, mas-mass-mass produced), distributed, administered, and I haven't even touched on the impact of anti-vaxers.
So no, I don't realistically think we're a few months away from "normal".
Covid did not force anyone into lock downs; governments did that, and they have been extremely detrimental.
Anyone who wants to go into lock down could do so voluntarily. Governments forced people.
Lockdown got me gaming again.
That's all I have to say on the matter.
@Cyberbotv2 Yup, Bill Nye the Science Guy
@Tyranexx All you said, I can agree with whole heartedly. Thank you for that. Very well put.
It'll go back up due to other reasons. No biggie. For instance, when they realise that "getting back to normal" by spring using the mass vaccination of a potentially unlicensed vaccination is most likely logistical impossible. That is in production bioengineering terms. This is coming from a healthcare pro.
Oh, and I advise ppl to use the ignore button where you feel you should (embarrassing in places eh?)
@Jokerwolf I presume you are in the Atlantic bubble as well?
@Rob3008 You really want to know how a vaccine acts when someone gets coronavirus. Only 89 got coronavirus. The thousands of others didn't.
Glad I'm not into the stock market.
I’m highly skeptical of this vaccine because they come up with it in a short space of time but yet years and years have been put into a cure for cancer with little results
@WesEds That’s because cancer is not one disease but many. For example, cancer of the throat has a different profile (on molecular, biochemical, progression levels, etc) than, say, cancer of the liver.
And even then one person’s skin cancer may be different than another person’s skin cancer.
Cancer really is the emperor of all maladies.
Well the sticks enjoyed a huge increase at the start of it all so it's really just the markets resetting themselves
@Scollurio And thank you for remaining civil. Stay safe!
Market shares are so toxic LMAO
@Shadowthrone Yep haha, NB
@Jokerwolf Cool! I'm over in NS
@Shadowthrone Ya and when people outside of the bubble hear about it they think we are lying, I tell them no we were just smarter and don't like dying.
@Tyranexx I always do! Thank you, same to you.
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