Nintendo’s shares in Japan have seen an almost 9 percent jump on Friday thanks to the viral popularity of their new smartphone game, Pokemon GO. The 8.94% increase in stock value currently stands as the highest Nintendo has seen in more than two months.
While it was seen as inevitable, the move marks one of the strangest for Nintendo — as they have been against the transition to mobile for some time. This was partially due to its interests in preserving the handheld and console markets.
Nintendo’s previous mobile title, Miitomo, had some short term success in the market as a social networking-style app. However, investors found the app disappointing as it failed to maintain as much attention as they had hoped. Thankfully, Pokemon GO has seen even larger growth, and is currently expected to outlive its predecessor.
According to a statement made by Macquarie Securities Group:
“It has more (monetisation) than we expected; as users build their Pokémon inventory, spending money becomes needed to store, train, hatch and battle[…]”
– Macquarie Securities statement acquired via Reuters
The group has also noted that the reason for the rapid growth is not due to “big spenders”, but rather due to the large number of users spending in the game. This could very well mean that Pokemon GO will continue to make serious income for Nintendo over a longer time period.
Nintendo has promised that several more smartphone games will be released by March 2017, and they expect to boost their annual profits by 45 billion yen ($450 million USD) in doing so. Nintendo is also expected to release its next console in that same timeframe.
Pokemon GO is undoubtedly a great move for Nintendo, as the game realizes the dreams of many young adults and teenagers who grew up with the series. Whether or not the mobile app will maintain its popularity will only be answered in time, but for now let’s continue on our quest to catch ’em all!
