Using your phone’s Global Positioning System functionality and camera, Pokemon Go lets players catch Pokemon in real-world locations. In other words, Nintendo does not believe that the massive interest in playing the Pokemon GO game will make a material difference to its earnings and profits at this time.
Advertisement
Nintendo has soared on the popularity of the Pokemon Go game thanks to its shares in the developer Niantic Inc. and Pokemon Co. In Comic-Con, John Hanke revealed that the company will make pokestops a larger part of the game by making it a pokecenter where a player can heal their pokemons in accordance with the original video game that “Pokemon GO” is based on. Both Nintendo and The Pokemon Company, one of its subsidiaries, have invested in the privately-held Niantic. The subsidiary will receive a licensing fee as well as payment “for collaboration in the development and operations” of the game. Nintendo said, however, that sales of the device have already been factored into its earnings outlook.
Investors had hoped these sources would add up to a big financial boost for Nintendo.
Nintendo shares dropped by over 15%, after they more than doubled in value since the 6 July game launch.
The stock has since returned to earth, and shares are now up a more modest 60 percent from July 6. Its first-quarter report, which ended before the release of Pokemon Go, is to be published on Wednesday.
The main reveal of new stuff for Pokemon Go at SDCC was putting actual faces to the silhouettes of team leaders in the game.
According to an estimate by Macquarie Securities analyst David Gibson, Nintendo has an “effective economic stake” of 13 percent in the app; the company is forecasting an annual net profit of 35 billion yen (roughly $330 million) in the current fiscal year, up from the 16.5 billion yen ($160 million) it earned last year.
Advertisement
“That’s a pretty cool idea that you can acquire an object that changes the function of a pokéstop and gives it a new ability”, Hanke explains, hinting that pokestops could soon become healing centers for Pokemon.
