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Despite radical success, Pokemon Go won't affect Nintendo's bottom line

Nintendo clarifies that its ownership stake in The Pokemon Company won't be drastically rewriting its financial bottom line.

Bryant Francis, Senior Editor

July 22, 2016

1 Min Read
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Nintendo’s fortunes won’t be rocketing based on Pokemon Go alone, but that’s because it’s never been directly financially associated with the game itself. 

In a statement on its investor site today, Nintendo clarified that despite its skyrocketing share value, it isn’t receiving any direct revenue from Pokemon Go, and that all revenue currently flows to developer/publisher Niantic, who then pays a licensing fee to The Pokemon Company. The Pokemon Company also receives “compensation for collaboration in the development and operations of Pokemon Go.” 

This confirmation shouldn’t be surprising to any familiar with the fact that The Pokemon Company is jointly owned by three firms: Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. Nintendo's 32 percent share in The Pokemon Company will somewhat impact its overall worth, but it's far removed from Niantic's runaway success.

So if you were planning to invest in Nintendo based on the explosion of Pokemon Go, you may want to do research into how this relationship will affect that decision. 

Nintendo says its financials may be impacted by its production and distribution of the Pokemon Go Plus, a peripheral wrist-worn device that will be released in the near future. 

About the Author

Bryant Francis

Senior Editor, GameDeveloper.com

Bryant Francis is a writer, journalist, and narrative designer based in Boston, MA. He currently writes for Game Developer, a leading B2B publication for the video game industry. His credits include Proxy Studios' upcoming 4X strategy game Zephon and Amplitude Studio's 2017 game Endless Space 2.

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