As the COVID-19 crisis worsens across the world, the stock market is beginning to feel the sting of reduced workforces due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, including at games companies.
Today's stock market openings across the world have been characterized by huge losses after the weekend, on the FTSE 100, S&P 500 and others, starting with Australia and Japan's Nikkei.
Among them are a number of the most famous games companies in Japan, as noted by Dr Serkan Toto, CEO of Tokyo-based games industry consultancy Kantan Games.
I've been following ~50 Japanese game stocks for over 10 years now.
— Dr. Serkan Toto / Kantan Games Inc. (@serkantoto) March 9, 2020
Today was the worst day I can remember (Tokyo Stock Exchange just closed).
A selection:
Nintendo -3.96%
Sony -7.31%
Nippon Ichi -17.58%
Koei -5.41%
Capcom -6.68%
Konami -6.76%
Sega -6.74%
Squenix: -5.79%
Nintendo have already had serious assembly pipeline issues for the new Animal Crossing Nintendo Switch limited edition console, and also the coral pink Nintendo Switch Lite. Factories supplying the Japanese retail markets with Nintendo hardware were among the first to be closed in a bid to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, beginning in Wuhan in Hubei province.
The global infection count is now passing 110,000 people and these falls on the stock market represent the worst losses since the 2008 financial crisis which caused a global recession.
Elsewhere the COVID-19 coronavirus is causing many esports and gaming events to be cancelled, including SXSW which was to host the ShackNews Smash invitational. The invitational is now looking for other venues to hold the Smash Bros tournament outside of the SXSW showfloor.
