Pokemon GO mobile game wins fans, and gives Nintendo a boost

todayonline : TOKYO — Shares in Japan’s Nintendo Co surged on Friday (July 8) as early signs showed consumers falling in love with its new Pokemon GO smartphone game, raising hopes that the company’s long-awaited shift into mobile gaming will pay off.

Since its launch late Wednesday in the United States, the title has shot up to claim the No 1 free app ranking in Apple’s US iTunes store. It was also launched in Australia and New Zealand this week and will soon be rolled out in Japan, other parts of Asia and Europe.

The game, which has players walking around their neighbourhoods in real life to search out and capture Pokemon characters on their smartphones, earned enthusiastic reviews by fans on Twitter despite some glitches. Analysts have also noted that the money-making potential from in-app purchases appears to be better than expected

“Ran into 4 people playing #PokemonGO on my 20 minute walk home this evening from work. I struck up a convo w/ one of them. Insane,” tweeted a user with the handle @PezRadar.

Nintendo’s shares jumped to end up 9 per cent at their highest level in more than two months, giving the firm a market value of about US$23 billion (S$31 billion).

The news will be a welcome salve for Nintendo, which for years resisted introducing mobile games with its best-known characters such as Super Mario Bros and Pokemon in an effort to protect its console business.

It finally yielded to investor calls to do so last year when it announced a tie-up with mobile specialist DeNA Co.

MONEY-MAKING POTENTIAL

Pokemon games have a deep fan base with the first title dating back to 1996. While free, Pokemon GO offers in-app purchases for power-ups and extra items.

“It has more (monetisation) than we expected; as users build their Pokmon inventory, spending money becomes needed to store, train, hatch and battle,” Macquarie Securities said in a note to clients.

The game was jointly developed by Niantic and Pokemon Company and is published by Niantic. Macquarie said it expects Nintendo to make most of its money through its one-third holding in Pokemon Company.

Nintendo also stands to make money from its Pokemon Go Plus — an accessory that will alert players when they come close to Pokemon so that they don’t always have to be looking at their phones. It will be released in late July and will be priced at US$34.99 in the United States.

In another sign of the game’s skyrocketing popularity, the Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services in Australia posted on its Facebook page that while the game featured the Darwin Police Station as a Pokestop, players did not actually have step inside to gain their Poke Balls.

“It’s also a good idea to look up, away from your phone and both ways before crossing the street. That Sandshrew isn’t going anywhere fast,” it said. REUTERS