Pokemon Go had 21 million active users in the United States alone as of July 18 – less than two weeks after going live.
Advertisement
Eager Japanese rushed to their phones on Friday to start hunting as Pokemon GO, the hit Nintendo-backed smartphone game, finally launched in Japan, home of the colorful cartoon characters.
The monster success of “Pokemon Go” has given a welcome lift to two struggling firms behind it – Nintendo and McDonald’s Japan.
The Japanese launch is expected imminently.
In the game, players search for digital creatures that pop up on smartphone screens as they move through real-world locations.
But a McDonald’s spokesman said restaurants would “call on players not to become a bother to customers who are eating”. Not at this time, though you wouldn’t know it from Niantic because the company doesn’t offer users any updates on server status.
The Israeli navy, however, makes no secret of its passion for Pokemon Go, publishing a screenshot of its forces capturing a sea-based monster with the caption: “There are some Pokemon only we can catch”. It appeared in the Japan Apple store about 30 minutes later.
Nintendo accounted for almost one in four shares that changed hands on the TSE’s main board.
Analysts have reported that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) could earn as much as $3 billion in revenue from Pokemon Go through sales in the App Store. But, the companies behind the game have chose to delay the launch in the country, a media report said Wednesday, citing a source close to the matter.
Shares of Nintendo, the company that sponsors the whole series of Pokemon games, jumped as much as 6.85 per cent at the Tokyo Stock Exchange after the news, although shortly after, the rise began to slow down.
Meanwhile, for Nintendo, “Pokemon Go” just keeps on giving.
Saudi Arabia has gone even further, with the country’s main religious body reissuing a fatwa first announced in 2001 banning any game involving Pokemon.
Advertisement
Since its USA launch, people have become so enthralled with the capture of the cyber creatures that there have been numerous reports of injuries and mishaps occurring when players are so glued to their phone screens, they lose track of where they are in the real world.
