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Investing.com-- Nintendo shares rose sharply on Wednesday after its new life simulation game, “Pokemon Pokopia” topped sales charts in less than a week since its release.
Nintendo Co Ltd (TYO:7974) jumped 10% to 10,035 yen, and was among the top performers on the Nikkei 225 stock index, which added 2.7%.
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Pokopia, which was released on March 5, was the top seller among Switch 2 games on Nintendo’s digital store in both the U.S. and UK.
Several media reports showed physical copies of the game were rapidly selling out in the U.S., with retailers such as Walmart also hiking prices of the game in the face of outsized demand.
Sales expectations for the game had been muted, given that it is a spin-off to Nintendo’s popular Pokemon franchise, and strays far from the established battling and collecting formula of the mainline series.
Pokopia was released to positive reviews and holds a rating of 89 on online review site Metacritic.
Beyond games, Nintendo shares were also buoyed by optimism over the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy Movie, especially after the final trailer for the movie released on Tuesday. The movie is scheduled to be released on April 1, and is a followup to 2023’s highly successful Super Mario Bros. Movie.