Gamers in Japan, home of Nintendo Co’s Pokemon, waited in vain on Wednesday for the launch of its smash-hit mobile phone game, amid media reports that the developers behind it had hit the brakes over concerns that manic demand would overload server capacity.
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Trading in Nintendo shares roughly accounted for a quarter of the entire trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange´s main board.
Wednesday’s launch of “Pokémon Go” was canceled after internal communication from McDonald’s Japan, the game’s sponsor, containing launch details leaked on various internet forums, including 2ch, Imgur and Japan’s Reddit, TechCrunch reported. TechCrunch later reported a postponement, but said the rollout for one of the world’s most critical gaming markets was still imminent.
Niantic made a decision to push back the Pokemon Go’s release after the emails went viral in Japan, as the company was concerned that the hype would overload the game’s servers.
Shares of Japan´s Nintendo Co soared another 14 percent on Tuesday, more than doubling the firm´s market capitalisation to 4.5 trillion yen ($42.5 billion) in just seven sessions since the mobile game Pokemon GO was launched in the United States.
Pokemon Go is a legitimate sensation – ranking as the top free downloaded app on both Apple’s App Store as well as Google’s Play store for Android devices. We’d expect major server troubles from a launch in Japan, which is the birthplace of the franchise and a region where Pokemon’s popularity has endured for 20 years.
Others too have benefited from the craze.
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In doing so, this will create 3000 McDonald’s restaurants instantaneously into Pokémon Gyms, which have already proven to be regular stomping grounds for Pokemon Go players in the past two weels. In light of these events, it appears that investors have turned their attention towards McDonald’s Holding Company Japan, whose share price increased by 9.84% at the time the market closed today.
