Nintendo’s stock shares have increased more than 10 percent thanks to the release of new mobile application, Pokémon GO.
Released earlier this week, Pokémon GO now sits at the top of most-downloaded free-to-play applications on the Apple iTunes store, as well as topping the list of highest-grossing applications.
The hype around the game has brought Nintendo’s stock to its highest level in two months according to Reuters.
“The company has huge intangible assets like characters but it hasn’t been trying to use them seriously. But the success of its Pokémon GO shows the company has got great content,” said a fund manager at a UK asset management firm in Tokyo.
The app is free, but the inclusion of in-app purchases to buy additional Pokéballs, sprays and medicine have all helped the game turn a profit.
“It has more (monetisation) than we expected; as users build their Pokémon inventory, spending money becomes needed to store, train, hatch and battle,” Macquarie Securities, a global provider of financial, advisory, investment and funds said. They also noted that the high amount of money being grossed is not due to just a few big spenders, but that spending in the app has been coming from a moderate amount of spending by many.
Pokémon GO is available to download for free on your iOS or Android device now. Find out how you can start off the game with a Pikachu (because you know you want to).