Hello gamer. I have some bad news. It looks like the global economy is having a bit of a rough time, with markets all over the globe taking a tumble towards the red. It’s lacking aura, as the kids say. Wall Street has lost much of its rizz. As a video game website, this may not seem like relevant news to you, but it absolutely is. Companies like Nintendo, Sega, and Capcom have seen a decrease in stock valuation as a result of this historical crash. This article will go through the why of it all, ahead of what could be the starting gun of a global recession, in video game terms.
Let’s start in Japan, with the likes of Capcom and Nintendo. Prior to today’s events, both companies were doing very well! Nintendo, on the verge of releasing the Switch 2, should be sitting comfortable right now. At the same time, Capcom has been on one hell of a winning streak with recent games, and had sharp stock rises as a result. The Japanese yen may have been weak in recent years, but even this was showing signs of improvement. All this makes it sound like it’s a great time to be a Japanese game dev – Kenzo Tsujimoto should be drinking champagne in a penthouse suite.
But he certainly isn’t today. Capcom has seen a stock decrease of roughly 16%, Nintendo -15%, Sega -13%, Nexon -13%… etc etc. No matter how good a video game company is doing, it’s been hit hard. This is because the problem isn’t with the video game industry in Japan, but the Japanese stock market itself! You’ve got the onion of economic downfall here – layers upon layers. As of market close, the Japanese Nikkei – think of this as a single marker of overall market health – sank by over 12%. It’s worth noting that the value increase of the Yen may have actually hurt the market here, as with it came an increase in interest rates.This is the largest drop since 1987 for the Nikkei – bad news!
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