Shares of Nintendo gained over 50 per cent in the last three trading days.
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The augmented-reality mobile game craze Pokémon Go by Nintendo, which sends people out and about to “collect” monsters via their phones in real locations, has many players ending up in shops and malls, Racked reports. It’s as if investors are all crying out one of Pokemon’s catch phrase about the company’s stock at the same time. You do not train your Pokemon.
Here’s why investors are so excited.
The game’s success on smartphones also could spur faster development from hardware makers – Microsoft with its HoloLens, the secretive startup Magic Leap, or Google, which could still revive its failed Glass headgear, says Timothy Carone, a professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. Daily active user numbers are already approaching those of Twitter, while players are spending an average of more than 43 minutes a day on the game.
Pokemon Go mania has quickly swept the United States as players armed with smartphones hunt streets, parks, rivers and elsewhere to capture monsters and gather supplies in the hit game. It’s Pokemania all over again as a new kind of mobile game is taking the world by storm.
You’ll find Pokemon lurking around every corner.
Pokemon Go comes with warnings to players to remain aware of their surroundings.
Niantic, named after a whaling vessel that berthed in San Francisco during the California Gold Rush, got as much as $30 million in its first round of funding after separating from Google past year. So did a joint venture known as the Pokemon Company – which manages the trading cards, TV series and other licensing and brand opportunities. Officials warn not to play Pokemon Go while behind the wheel.
Google parent Alphabet also owns a piece of Niantic. Niantic was a Google internal start-up, before being spun off, and the internet giant remains an investor.
In London, for instance, The Shard has already been made into a “gym” where players can pit their Pokemon army against each other. Or ball, as the case may be? Other countries will have access soon. Iwata was replaced as president by Tatsumi Kimishima, who joined Nintendo from The Pokemon Company in 2000. Iwata, who was instrumental in turning Nintendo around by bringing hits such as the handheld Nintendo DS and motion-based Wii to market, had always advocated for games that got people out of their seats and moving.
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So Nintendo is riding high now.
