After a mediocre showing at E3 2011 over the past week, the ‘Big Three’ console companies have all taken a hit in the stock market. But given people’s expectations and some mixed reviews, who has taken the biggest hit?
Microsoft kicked off E3 with a wealth of great looking sequels and yet more titles for their Kinect peripheral. According to the Morningstar website, which monitors the NYSE, during and immediately after the conference, Microsoft stock increased in value significantly as the volume of people buying shares also increased, and ended up worth $24.21 per share at its peak. A few hours after the conference opinions seemed to have changed, resulting in a sharp drop in the share price, plateauing around the $23.90 mark as it had been before E3. Microsoft seems to have weathered this storm rather well, and has come out of E3 no worse-off.
Sony followed later the same day, and focused quite heavily on 3D gaming. Morningstar reports the pre-E3 share price of Sony peaked around $26.49 per share, but fell during the E3 conference, and continued to fall for 2 days after, finally bottoming-out at $25.22 per share. It has managed to claw a few cents per share back and is slowly on the rise, but it is still significantly lower than the share prices pre-E3.
Nintendo kicked off the second day in style with an orchestra and E3 favourite Reggie Fils-Aime. Once again, Morningstar reports a very healthy starting price for the shares in Nintendo in anticipation of their press conference, averaging $28.00 each (the most expensive shares of all three) only to lose $2 per share right after their E3 presentation. Another $1 per share dropped one day later, and the fall is still going.
Neither Sony nor Microsoft will be worried at their stock prices fluctuating, Sony will undoubtedly rise again and Microsoft is back where it started before E3. Nintendo however, is likely to be feeling the effects from mixed feelings regarding the Wii U console. A large amount of their stock has changed hands and the price is continuing to fall; hopefully more definitive software titles and an official price announcement can help salvage the innovative company, before any real harm is done.
[Via: Morningstar.com]
