Nintendo’s Pokémon Go mobile game has finally launched in Japan, bringing the record-setting global hit to the home of the Pokémon characters. The game has been downloaded more than 30 million times since its release two weeks ago and has pushed Nintendo’s stock price to almost double in value.
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“After seeing all the excitement in NY, I wanted to actually play and see what the hype is all about”, Keita Nakagawa, who works in an office by the station, said on his way to lunch while fiddling with his smartphone.
The wildly successful gaming app made its debut in early July in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, but Japanese fans haven’t been able to get their fix until now.
Pokemon Go is a joint venture of the Pokemon Company, which is 40% owned by Nintendo, and Niantic, a spinout from Alphabet.
Nintendo shares, which have seen a meteoric rise in recent days, climbed in Tokyo trading on Friday but pared gains to close up under 1 percent.
It attributed the delay in Japan to responses “beyond our expectations” after the game’s rolling release began on July 6. “We’re going to play it while visiting Tokyo this weekend”.
The monsters in it were first popular in the 1990s when they started on the Nintendo Game Boy.
Japan McDonalds’ 3,000 restaurants in Japan will be turned into Pokemon gyms in collaboration with the fast-food chain.
“Pokemon Go”, a smartphone app that uses Google Maps to overlay reality with Pokemon creatures, was developed by Niantic, a Google spinoff that Nintendo Co. invested in a year ago.
The smartphone app has now been launched in more than 40 countries, including the USA and much of Europe, but Japan – where Nintendo started the mythical creature franchise 20 years ago – was kept waiting.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Thursday that the government wants players to follow guidelines issued by a national center for incident readiness and cybersecurity.
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McDonald’s Japan shares rose around three percent following the announcement.
