Nintendo loses $1 billion in market value after delay of game launch

Nintendo share price dropped after a delay of the launch of a popular game. The postponement caused the company to lose $1 billion in market value. Investors were upset that the video game company’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons game won't be released until 2020.

Animal Crossing launch delay details

Animal Crossing is a life simulation game in which humans interact with animals. The game was supposed to launch its latest version in 2019, but has been pushed back until next year. Doug Bowser, president of Nintendo of America, said the Animal Crossing: New Horizons release was delayed to give the game’s developers a proper work-life balance to avoid burnout.

‘For us [Nintendo], one of our key tenets is that we bring smiles to people’s faces, and we talk about that all the time. It’s our vision. Or our mission, I should say. For us, that applies to our own employees. We need to make sure that our employees have good work-life balance,’ said Bowser.

‘We will not bring a game to market before it’s ready. We just talked about one example [with ‘Animal Crossing’]. It’s really important that we have that balance in our world. It’s actually something we’re proud of,’ added Bowser.

Is the US-China tariff war affecting Nintendo?

Gamers and investors were also disappointed by a delay in the debut of a new low-cost version of the Nintendo Switch gaming console. There are reports that the new Switch models will be made in southeast Asia instead of China to avoid US tariffs on Chinese imports. Bowser wouldn’t comment on when the new Switch console would be available.

'We’re not talking any more about new platforms or extensions of Nintendo Switch. We’re just entering into the third year of Nintendo Switch with strong momentum, and that’s the focus here,’ said Bowser.

Investors will monitor Nintendo stock to see if the video game giant can rebound from these setbacks.