Nintendo Gets a 7% Power-Up After Pokopia Moves 5 Million Copies (Memory-Cost Boss Battle Lingers)

Ditto, you have just been promoted. You are now one of my elite Nintendo employees… -Princess Peach, probably

The House of Mario powered up 7% today after (cringes in nerd) “Pokemon Pokopia” sold more than 5 million copies on the company’s flagship Switch 2 console.

In case you haven’t spent the past 30 years memorizing imaginary animals, Pokopia lets players control Ditto, the amorphous pink blob best known for copying everything it sees.

Think of it as ChatGPT with a face.

The game crossed 5 million sales just over four months after launching on March 5, making it the Switch 2’s second-best-selling title. It has already passed “Donkey Kong Bananza” and now trails only “Mario Kart World.”

That’s especially impressive considering Pokopia is a Pokemon spin-off that wasn’t expected to become this much of a hit. The game mixes Pokemon with elements of “Animal Crossing,” allowing Ditto to transform, collect money resources, and build a cozy little civilization free from mortgage rates and the IRS.

Okay, that’s enough virgin language for one paragraph… why did the stonk go up? (Says the person reading several hundred words about Nintendo’s hardware fundamentals.) 

Well, investors aren’t pumping Nintendo because 5 million people paid $60 to role-play as a sentient wad of Hubba Bubba. They’re hoping Pokopia can convince more grown adults to buy the Switch 2.

And calling the situation “not ideal” would be generous. That’s because rising memory costs forced Nintendo to make its slowing console even more expensive.

Consumers love that.

As of latest estimates, Nintendo expects to sell 16.5 million Switch 2 consoles during the fiscal year ending March 2027, which would still come in below the previous year. (Wario may need to start going door-to-door).

But have no fear, Nintendo is now rolling out expansion packs and updates for Pokopia to attract new players and keep the existing 5 million from wandering back to “Animal Crossing.”

Meanwhile, the company has more nostalgia artillery locked and loaded. A remake of “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” is headed to the Switch 2, along with two new Pokemon games next year.

Wall Street thinks the plan might work. Nintendo shares have added more than 26% over the past month, even though they’re still down over 16% this year.

Never underestimate adults with money and childhood trauma.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News doesn’t hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.