Nintendo shares sink 10% as gaming giant faces memory shortage concerns

Nintendo shares sink 10% as gaming giant faces memory shortage concerns

Published Tue, Feb 3 2026

10:03 PM EST

Key Points

• Investors remain concerned about the impact memory costs could have on the sales of Nintendo's gaming consoles. 
• The share drop comes after Nintendo's quarterly revenue missed market estimates, despite an 84% surge from last year.

Nintendo Co. Switch 2 game consoles at a Bic Camera Inc. electronics store in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, June 5, 2025. Nintendo Co. fans from Tokyo to Manhattan stood in line for hours to be among the first to get a Switch 2, fueling one of the biggest global gadget debuts since the iPhone launches of yesteryear.

Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Nintendo shares plunged more than 10% on Wednesday as the gaming giant faces headwinds from an unprecedented memory shortage, and missed market estimates for quarterly revenue on Tuesday.

The company beat profit estimates though, clocking a 24% jump year on year, bolstered by sales of its Nintendo Switch — now the company's best selling console ever following its release in 2017. Revenue rose 86%.

Nintendo is facing several headwinds this year, including a shortage in memory chips — a key component in Nintendo's consoles — that has resulted in surging prices.

According to Andrew Jackson, head of Japanese Equity Strategy at Ortus Advisors, investors remain concerned about the impact that memory costs will have on the company's margins. 

While Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said Tuesday that memory price rises were not significantly impacting results for the financial year, he said it could impact profitability if the component costs remain high over the longer term. 

The company maintained its full-year Switch 2 sales forecast on Tuesday.

In February, it plans to release "Mario Tennis Fever" for the Switch 2, and "Pokémon Pokopia" in March — two titles from its most popular franchises.

The company also has "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" set for release in April. The first Super Mario movie released in 2023 had provided a significant boost to Nintendo's console sales, with the company likely hoping for a similar effect on the Switch 2.

On Tuesday, James McWhirter, senior analyst at Omdia, told CNBC that 2026 would be a "make-or-break" year for the for Switch 2′s future as Nintendo looks to win more mass market appeal.

— CNBC's Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report

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