Nintendo Co Ltd reported record sales for its new video game “Splatoon 3” for the Switch console. After the announcement, the Japanese game company’s stock price increased 5%.
“Splatoon 3” is a “shooting game” in which players battle with colorful paint to control areas of a map. The game was launched on September 9 and almost 3.5 million units were sold in the first three days.
“Splatoon 3” launch sales were higher than other popular Switch games like “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” and “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate”.
The strong sales of “Splatoon 3” show that Switch is still popular. Nintendo Switch has been available for about 6 years now and more than 111 million units have been sold. The company can still make games that many people enjoy.
Investors are evaluating the video game industry now. They think it might slow down because sales increased during the COVID-19 pandemic when many people stayed home.
Some game companies have decided to delay high profile games until next year. Nintendo pushed back the release date of the sequel to “Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”. However, the company will release two Pokémon games this November.
VOCABULARY
- Record – the most or least ever; the highest level ever; achieved for the first time
- Console (game console) – Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch are consoles
- Announcement – to make information available to everyone; a statement; to say to everyone; notification
- Stock – the money a company has from selling shares (parts of the company) on the stock market
- Launch – start selling something; introduce a new product
- Unit – one item; single piece;
- Investor – A person who puts money into a company or property and hopes to get a profit
- Evaluate – to check or study something to understand the value or condition; assess; judge
- Industry – business field; area of work or business; type of business
- Pandemic – when a disease or sickness goes all over the country or world
- High profile – to get a lot of attention; attract publicity
- Push back – to reschedule to a later time; to delay
- Release – make available to everyone; launch; put on the market
- Sequel – the continuation of a story; the next part in a series;
Original story from Reuters below:
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