IBD’S TAKE: Nintendo is getting a lot of buzz for its stake in “Pokemon Go”, but the game is unlikely to add much to the company’s bottom line.
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The mobile game has become an instant hit with more users in the United States than Twitter just one week after launch.
A USA senator has asked the developers of the game to clarify its data privacy protections.
Investors – and gamers – are waiting to see when Pokemon GO will be launched in other major markets, particularly Japan, one of the world’s biggest gaming markets. In the USA, gamers trespassing on others’ property face a real threat of physical harm from property owners who may use force to protect their property.
Separately security researchers at security software firm ESET warn that the first ever fake lockscreen app on the Google Play Android Store and two scareware apps all posed as Pokemon Go-related apps.
However, for the game to work users will also need to install a virtual private network on their phones to bypass censorship and have a Google account, as well as a GPS simulator, as the global positioning system has strong restrictions in China. Meanwhile, there are dozens of clones of the game circulating already. He gave no further details.
But the calls for a boycott, and the fact that Pokemon GO hasn’t even been released in China, have not deterred fans. “I really liked Pokemon as a kid”, said Gan Tian, a 22-year-old student at Tsinghua University. That’s because, outside of the USA, the official game isn’t available in many parts of the world.
But for many others in the country, playing is proving a challenge. The dominant app store publishers are Alphabet’s Google Play and Apple’s (AAPL) App Store.
Nintendo has given no indication as to when or whether Pokemon GO will be released in China.
Niantic, the lab that developed the game, declined to comment on Friday on an eventual launch.
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Along with in-app purchases by players in Pokemon Go, “there is a second component to our business model at Niantic, which is this concept of sponsored locations”, Niantic’s CEO John Hanke told the Financial Times.
