Nintendo shares slump 6% on 'Legend of Zelda' delay (updated)

Bandai Namco Holdings

30/03/2022 05:02

* Nintendo had climbed 25% year-to-date before slump
    * Industry has seen influx of acclaimed open world adventure
games
    * Nintendo has strong games pipeline for 2022 despite Zelda
delay
    * Nintendo relies on first party titles to drive sales 

 (Adds external comment)
    By Sam Nussey
    TOKYO, March 30 (Reuters) - Nintendo Co  7974.T  shares
slumped 6% in Tokyo trading after the Kyoto-based gaming firm
said it was pushing back the release of the hotly awaited sequel
to "Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" to spring 2023 from
this year's planned debut.  
    The fall comes after Nintendo's shares had gained 25%
year-to-date at Tuesday's close, shaking off concerns that the
hit Switch console might have peaked following a hardware
refresh in October, and the launch of a critically acclaimed
"Pokemon" title in January. 
    "In order to make this game's experience something special,
the entire development team is continuing to work diligently so
please wait a little longer," Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma
said in a video posted to Twitter. 
    The original "Breath of the Wild" was itself delayed,
becoming a Switch launch game in 2017 and selling more than 25
million units. 
    The widely emulated action-adventure was praised for its
open world gameplay. Nintendo launched a hack-and-slash
spin-off, "Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity", in 2020. 
    Nintendo is preparing to launch the still untitled Zelda
sequel into an industry which has recently seen the launch of
adventure games "Elden Ring" from Kadokawa  9468.T  and Bandai
Namco  7832.T  and "Horizon Forbidden West" from Sony  6758.T .
    Despite the Zelda delay, Nintendo has a strong pipeline for
2022, with inky shooter "Splatoon 3" due this summer and two
further Pokemon titles set to launch later in the year. 
    "If there's a year Nintendo can afford to push Zelda out of,
it's this year," said Serkan Toto, founder of the Kantan Games
consultancy. 
    "The fiscal year hasn't even started yet and they have
spread out all of these potential blockbuster titles," he added.
 
    Games made in-house formed 84% of Nintendo software sales in
the third quarter ended December. The Switch console has an
install base of more than 100 million units with more than 750
million software units sold. 

 (Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Raju
Gopalakrishnan)
 ((sam.nussey@tr.com;))