E3 2011: Nintendo shares fall to five-year low

Despite the unveiling of its new home console Wii U, Nintendo’s share price has fallen to a five-year low.

The format holder’s share price on the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 5.7 per cent from 17,950 YEN to 16,600 YEN yesterday, Bloomberg reports. However by the close of trading it had increased marginally to 16,930 YEN.

There were high expectations from the new version of the Wii and this fell far short,” Tokai Tokyo Securities analyst Yusuke Tsunoda told Bloomberg.

People had expected to see something more at a big event like E3, but there wasn’t really anything more than what’s already reported.”

Over 2.2m shares in Nintendo changed hands yesterday, compared with the six-month daily average of around 720,000.

The Nintendo share price rose nine per cent following the initial Nintendo 3DS announcement last year, while shares have been slowly tumbling this year even after the 3DS launched.

Nintendo revealed the successor to the Wii yesterday at E3 in Los Angeles. The Wii U console features a tablet controller with a 6.2-inch touchscreen, HD compatibility and wireless TV functionality. It offers video calls, web browsing and more.

The Wii U will launch next year. A price has not yet been revealed.