Reuters
The games company's announcement that it expects new third-party software enabling in-game purchases to be available early next year for its 3DS handheld games device also likely supported the stock, analysts said.
Shares in Nintendo, the creator of the Super Mario franchise, closed up 6 percent at 11,780 yen compared with a 1.4 percent rise in the Nikkei average .N225.
"It was mildly positive that they maintained their dividend forecast," said Takeshi Koyama, an analyst at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo. "There were no big surprises at the investor conference, but at least they have concrete plans for microtransactions."
In-game microtransactions allow consumers to buy small virtual items, which range from outfits for an avatar to plants for an online garden or extra game content, while they are playing a game.
"We expect such games to be available from third parties early next year, although I don't want to say in what form, because it is up to the publishers to announce it," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told an analysts' conference on Friday.
The microtransaction business model has helped mobile game firms DeNA (2432.T) and Gree (3632.T) rack up huge profits.
Nintendo's stock has fallen by about half since the financial year began on April 1, after the 3DS launch flopped amid growing competition from smartphones and tablets.
Sales of the 3DS rose to 2.36 million units in the July-September period, compared with 710,000 units in the previous quarter, after the company slashed prices by up to 40 percent in August, but are still a long way off the 16 million target for the year.
Nintendo is also taking a big hit from the soaring yen, particularly against the euro. It said on Thursday it would take a 52.4 billion yen ($691 million) charge after reassessing its assets denominated in foreign currencies as of the end of September, and revised its annual outlook to its first ever net loss.
($1 = 75.840 Japanese Yen)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/28/us-nintendo-idUSTRE79R10820111028
