Following Nintendo’s (TYO: 7974) most recent financial results, the company held a Q&A session in which one of the questions addressed NFTs and the metaverse, among other topics. According to the senior analyst at MST Financial, David Gibson, Nintendo hinted that it is interested in this area and could see ‘the potential’ it had for the company. Although, in a follow-up tweet, Gibson claimed that Nintendo’s response “was mainly focused on metaverse.”
NFTs and the metaverse
Nintendo will undoubtedly be interested in any new technology that helps it to compete in the video game space, especially considering that recent data shows the amount of money invested in NFT companies increased by an incredible 130x between 2020 and 2021, reaching $4.8 billion. In general, investors are bullish about the potential of NFTs as collector items, creators of brand value for firms, and participants in the Web3 and the metaverse. Notably, digital products like in-game items may be bought and sold via NFTs since they are unique pieces of data recorded on a blockchain (a type of digital ledger), whereas, the metaverse is a concept that has gained popularity among tech firms to refer to an online virtual environment centered on social interaction.
Nintendo Switch overtakes PlayStation & Wii in sales
It’s also worth mentioning that almost 48 million copies of the Nintendo Switch have been sold in the previous 21 months, making it the third best-selling system of all time, surpassing both the original PlayStation and the Wii in sales. Indeed, since the pandemic began in March 2020, the Nintendo Switch has been flying off the shelves, becoming the most successful home console in the company’s lengthy history with 103.5 million unit sales. Although Sony is currently facing component shortages with its PS5, it has dominated the gaming market over the past two and half decades with three of its PlayStation consoles ranking among the top four gaming consoles by unit sales. Based on the company’s official sales numbers, the PS2 has sold more than 155 million copies worldwide since its introduction in 2001, making it the most popular video game system by a significant margin.
