Nintendo shares blast off at the speed of light

A lot has happened since Wednesday’s launch of the Pokémon Go app for Apple IOS and Android that is now available in the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.  Reuters have reported that Nintendo’s shares have risen nine percent giving the company a current value of approximately US$23 billion with shares at a current price of 16,270 yen (approx. AUD$214) at the time of writing.

As most of you reading this probably know, the game itself is free with the ability to purchase coins to upgrade packs or buy additional  items like increased storage, incense, eggs or Poké balls (seriously who needs to buy Poké balls? They’re everywhere!)

Macquarie Securities reported that Australian spending was not driven by single users spending a lot of money but rather a large number of users spending less, adding that Pokémon Go “has more (monetisation) than we expected; as users build their Pokémon inventory, spending money becomes needed to store, train, hatch and battle”.

Nintendo profits are set to increase as they continue the roll out the game across the globe with Europe next to see some Pokémon Go action (I want to see Charizard on the Eiffel Tower Gym), as well as from sales of the Pokémon Go Plus device accessory that will alert you when a Pokémon is nearly (and looks super cool also).

Nintendo has been reluctant to join the mobile game market, but given the overwhelming success of Pokémon Go so far, Nintendo are well and truly joining the app race.  A lot of promise is now given for confirmed titles Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem that are also being developed for mobile devices.

I think it is safe to say the gaming phenomena of Pokémon Go is not going away any time soon.  I caught five Pokémon whilst writing this article.