It’s only been a week since Pokemon Go launched and people are already going crazy. This Nintendo and Niantic Labs mobile game is currently only available in Australia, New Zealand, and the US.
The smartphone game has become a “money-making machine” for Nintendo. Shares of Nintendo rose 20% in Tokyo on Monday, according to an AFP report.
“The video game giant jumped from ¥3,310 to ¥19,580 as its latest foray into mobile games launched in the US and Australia was an instant hit with fans,” the report said.
Additionally, a two-day rally in Nintendo shares lifted the company’s market value by $7.1 billion (Rs 47,234.52 crore), according to a Bloomberg report.
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About the game
According to the official website, Pokemon Go is a journey between the real world and the virtual world of Pokemon, which is built on the Niantic Real World Gaming Platform. It uses real locations to encourage players to search far and wide in the real world to discover Pokemon.
“As you move, your smartphone will vibrate to let you know you’re near a Pokémon. Once you encounter a Pokémon, aim at your smartphone’s touchscreen and throw a Poké Ball to catch it.”
Pokemon vs other apps
The game has not yet launched globally. Despite this, the mobile game beat mobile giants like Mobile Strike, Game of War, Clash Royale, Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans in terms of money, MCV report said.
Interestingly, according to data available on SimilarWeb, the mobile game is set to cross Twitter among daily active users on Android.
The data stated, “Pokemon GO has been installed on 5.6% of all Android devices in the United States and is installed on more Android phones than Tinder. Not only that, but on average, users spend twice as much time engaging in Pokemon GO. than in apps like Snapchat”.
Available data is only from Android and iOS data is yet to be released.
The game has gained so much popularity since its launch that the company had to put the game on hold to add more servers.
The official Pokemon handler tweeted: “Due to the incredible number of #PokemonGO downloads, some trainers may have trouble registering. Don’t worry, our team is on it!”
Another tweet read: “Thanks for your patience. We’ve been working to resolve the server issues. We’ll continue rolling out #PokemonGO to new countries soon”.
