Pokémon Go may be a rage among game lovers all over the world, but the runaway success of the augmented reality game may not translate into windfall for investors of Nintendo, which owns the brand rights to the Pokémon franchise.
Pokémon Go was jointly developed by the Pokemon Company, in which Nintendo has a 32 percent stake, and Niantic Labs, a Google spinoff.
Nintendo shares did rally sharply last week, coinciding with the launch of Pokémon Go on July 6 in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand and subsequently release in over 30 markets such as Germany, the U.K., Canada and the Netherlands.
Nintendo shares closed at ¥27,780 on July 15 (Friday), up 9.80 percent from their previous close.
However, game lovers going crazy over Pokémon Go need not mean much to Nintendo shareholders, says Marketwatch, citing an update by analyst CLSA. Nintendo gets royalties for Pokémon titles, "but surprisingly little direct profit," the news website said, referring to the note written by CLSA analyst Jay Defibaugh.
"The economic benefit to Nintendo from Pokémon Go is rather unclear," he said.
There is a scope for a 12 percent upside from its current valuation if the game earns $4 billion in revenues, Marketwatch said, referring to Macquarie Research analyst David Gibson. Nintendo has a stake of about 13 percent in Pokémon Go, according to him.
The revenue earnings from Pokémon Go for Nintendo are not from the game per se, since the app is free-to-download. The money comes from sale of PokéCoins, a currency that enables gamers to catch and hatch Pokémon. The coins are sold for 99 cents to $99.99.
Nintendo did make waves on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, creating history for traded volumes for any single scrip. "The gamemaker traded 476 billion yen ($4.5 billion) worth of shares on Friday, the biggest daily turnover for any company in the Topix index this century. Nintendo surged 71 percent last week after the game became an instant hit, its largest weekly gain ever," reported Bloomberg.
Monday prices are not available since the Tokyo Stock Exchange is closed on Monday on account of Marine Day.
