Most of you probably already heard about this but Nintendo is having a pretty good week based entirely on the success of Pokémon GO, so good that it's almost scary. I know this probably isn't the place for serious market discussions but still, I'd be interested to know what you guys think about this.

Honestly, this seems like a bit of a bubble in the making? As somebody who hasn't been able to play it yet (damn you, Europe!) maybe there's something to it that justifies its status as the worlds new digital crack cocaine but I honestly don't know how well it will do in terms of player retention.

The investors certainly seem to believe it'll continue to do well but I wonder how many of them are buying based on knowledge of the gaming industry and how many just called their brokers and said "get me some of that there Pokémon that all the kids are talking about".

It'll be interesting to see how this will influence Nintendo's future. Is this first major success going to hasten their path towards bringing their major franchises to various app stores? If this isn't a bubble will Nintendo shift their focus towards mobile in general? I assume the NX is too far along at this point to be influenced by any of this but if rumors are true and there is a major handheld component to that console how well does that fit into a world where Nintendo has a side business as an app-developer? Even if the apps aren't "proper" Nintendo games, does the public at large really care?

Interesting times ahead for Nintendo.

Not surprising after the success of Miitomo, I thought this would happen. It may be rough around edges but its great fun and will no doubt benefit the next two main game releases. All Nintendo need to do now is make an Animal Crossing game for smartphones and I will be thoroughly happy.

I also hope all these games connect to NX in some way, especially after seeing the latest patent.

Pokemon Go Plus will also rake some money in.

@skinky: They've already said they're working on an AC title for mobile.

This confuses me because I thought Nintendo didn't really have much to do with Pokemon GO.

They own the IP and thus must be getting royalties. I imagine the Pokemon name doesn't come cheap.

@sinusoidal: Pretty sure The Pokemon Company actually owns the IP. I'm sure that Nintendo has a deal with The Pokemon Company that gets them so much money from it, but would that amount justify this jump? I don't know much about stock and such, but this looks a lot like people buying a lot because they see that Pokemon GO is super popular. I guess it doesn't really matter in the end since this is good for both companies.

@jesus_phish:

Thanks. Sounds like a companion app for the NX version.

Excited by the prospect, a relay through your phone would be great for the series.

@jesushammer: Nintendo owns a minority stake in The Pokemon Company (I believe it's around 20-30% of the company), so it receives money through dividends and other related stock-increase value. Nintendo, in terms of internal development teams and employees, had no direct role in any development, promotion, or distribution of Pokemon Go, but Nintendo does get rewarded for its successes (as any investor would). The stock jump might also reflect investor confusion as to the source of the product, which occasionally happens in situations like this.

An important side note is the corporate structure at work here: The Pokemon Company is basically a holding company for the Pokemon intellectual property, with which Nintendo's internal teams have little-to-no involvement. Game Freak (also not a Nintendo-operated venture) develops the traditional RPGs, and other smaller teams handle spinoffs and the like. Think of The Pokemon Company as the entity responsible for managing the brand.

For those in Europe who are missing out, VideoGamerTV has news on a substitute game:

@ocelotfox: I figured it had to be either Nintendo owning a good chunk of The Pokemon Company or investors getting confused. Can't blame them for being confused when I've seen basically everyone say it's from Nintendo.

Might be worth noting that Game Freak and Creatures aren't publicly traded, so if you want some of that Pokemon GO stock action then Nintendo might be your only way in.

Between this and the X% stock decrease Nintendo got as the result of a press conference, I feel stock prices are very finicky and grossly exaggerate the actual effect of whatever they're reacting to.

The problem is this is not based on something altogether tangible nor on any great insight or bold thinking at Nintendo's executive suite. They haven't hired people for fill real jobs, they haven't built a new factory to make new products, they haven't expanded into a new audiences segment. So, they have not really changed in 'any way' that can't be taken or used to build the company.

If NX is good or even slightly interesting that might keep that stocks price; otherwise, I still would put Nintendo on shaky ground for management that knows what they hell they are doing. Sure great use of Augmented Reality for a game, maybe the best use foir AR that could be done, since the Pokemon brand is made for this sort of thing. They simply have a partnership that created a game that will clearly be profitable....until a few kids walk into a busy street and get hit by a bus.

The BIGGEST news about this game is some girl found a dead guy in a river. And, then some thugs lured someone to a parking lot to rob him, and people are walking onto misidentify private property. Are we one week, two weeks or a month away form a kid walking into a busy street? Are we one week, two weeks or a month away from some walking around looking suspicious being shot? Who knows but the statistical possibly seems VERY high.

40% is pretty insane.

Still hung up on the fact that the game doesn't seem good. Just imagine if they made a good mobile pokemon game

Nintendo owns 1/3 of the copyright and all of the trademark. They also help develop, publish, and produce most Pokemon games.

The Pokemon Company was started with the help of Nintendo (and I believe their executives own quite a bit of its stock) as well.

It's complete crap. I don't understand why people love it so much, it's barely even a game.

The market cap exploded overnight. People have been sleeping on THAT stock for a long time but they did get a spike after they announced mobile game development. I follow and buy a game stock I won't mention, but seeing this is extremely good news.

I personally enjoy the game, I think it's an amazing idea with a good IP bolted onto it. I'm not a hater!

The issue is not being a hater or not. The issues is was Nintendo under valued? And if not, is it now overvalued beyond expectations it can deliver on?
I'm sure if this sticks for long enough there will be a write up in a financial newspaper about what had been going on at the company and about how appropriate the stocks value is now. From such an article it would be interesting to know how profitable this game is? How/if it is being downloaded for free/torrented? The market believe Nintendo success on phone is reproducible with other properties, and/or that Nintendo could do well with its next consoles. I would like to know what that is based on aside from mere optimism.

This article also shows more about Nintendo's stock over time, particularly looking at the Wii, where the stock soared but eventually fell back down.

I think Nintendo will be able to leverage these mobile device sales into renewed interest in their future dedicated machine offerings. But even if they don't they stand to make boat loads of money in mobile with their existing IP.

Share's have gone up considerably since this post. Assumingly on the back on the NES Classic.

That's the definition of a mobile game.

Nintendo's succeeding by proxy because they actually brought a Nintendo IP to the biggest market:phones.

It'll peter out once the elation wears off.

the stock market is a funny beast.

Just wanted to revisit this to show how short the stock market can be. Insane people invested without even doing basic research.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/277809/Nintendos_stock_drops_as_investors_learn_it_didnt_create_Pokemon_Go.php

The stock has dropped 18% and will continue to.

Damn, I'd love to have been a fly on the wall on that meeting when they realized.