OCT. 10, 2007 • Thanks to it line-up of accessible games and lifestyle titles, Nintendo Co. Ltd. said that in Japan 51% of Wii users and 53% of DS players are women. Five days later the gamemaker attained market valuation of ¥10 trillion ($85 billion), almost triple the value since launching the Wii a year ago. Nintendo is now Japan’s third-most valuable listed company behind automaker Toyota Motor Corp and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
Impact: In the year prior to the Wii launch, DFC Intelligence worked closely with several investment funds that had large holdings in Nintendo. Their concern was that by focusing on a new audience Nintendo was risking losing their existing audience. Our argument was that in the console business, Nintendo had nowhere to go but up. Of course, going up to an $85 billion market valuation was not exactly what we had in mind. Clearly we are back to the days when content is king and having the hit product of the moment is everything.
