Pokemon GO Release Puts Nintendo Stock On The Rise

It would appear that would-be Pokemon trainers aren't the only ones who are pleased to see Pokemon GO arrive on the scene. The launch and subsequent success of the game has sent Nintendo shares up, in a time when investors were wondering if Nintendo had lost that magic touch. It hasn't exactly been a secret that Nintendo investors have wanted the company to break into the mobile games scene, and now that Pokemon GO has had a successful launch in a few regions around the world, they seem to be rewarding Nintendo with a surge in stock prices.

Of course, ask players if the game's launch was successful and you might get a different answer, since Pokemon GO's servers were down for a large part of launch day, but we imagine investors like seeing a game so popular that it crashes servers. Nintendo shares finished Friday up 9% to end at ¥16,270, which is a pretty significant gain and shows that the company's investors are quite pleased with this attempt to break into mobile gaming.

The funny thing about all of this is that Pokemon GO has yet to launch in Japan, so assuming Nintendo's Japanese fans flock to the game like those in Australia and the US have, this could just be the first in a series of stock gains we see for the company. We're guessing that Pokemon GO will do just fine in Japan, considering how many players in that country seem to love everything Pokemon.

Despite its launch day server woes, Nintendo investors don't seem to be the only ones who are enjoying the launch of Pokemon GO. The game has caused a lot of chatter on social media in the past few days, with players exploring the environment around them and sharing the gyms they discover and the Pokemon they catch for the world to see. The true test of Pokemon GO's success has yet to come, however, as we see if the game has staying power with these players. Stay tuned.

SOURCE: Financial Times