Over the last few years, since the craze of the Nintendo Wii, it feels as if we have barely heard much from the Japanese company. But in recent months Nintendo is well and truly back on the scene with the launch of a certain new virtual reality game.
With huge advances in technologies in gaming consoles and the other leading brands adapting and developing, Nintendo had been left behind a little with the Nintendo Wii and the newer version of the Wii U. Sales of the console have dropped and Nintendo have struggled to compete with its competitors. According to IG.com, ‘Nintendo’s share prices suffered, plunging over 80% from 2007 to 2011. Between 2012 and 2014, its stock was trading at one-seventh of the peak in 2007.’
Pokémon Go – In the summer of 2016 you will have undoubtedly witnessed an increased number of people walking around staring at their phones. This is due to the latest Nintendo phenomenon of Pokémon Go. Back in the 1990s the original Pokémon Red and Green Versions game was released by Nintendo for the Game Boy. The game is based on catching, training and trading Pokémon creatures, which eventually leads to you becoming a Pokémon Master.
Pokémon Go follows the same principles but is targeted perfectly to appeal to the modern gamer or technology enthusiast. Instead of searching the virtual world for Pokémon monsters, such as Pikachu and Pinsir, you actually get to walk around in the real world using the GPS on your mobile device to help you find them in your location. To access the game you can simply download it from the App Store or Google Play – and it’s free. There are opportunities to buy things with real money once you’re in the game though so remember that if you allow your kids to get the game.
Profitability of Pokémon Go – So far since its launch of Pokémon Go earlier in the year £5.4bn has been added to Nintendo’s value by virtue of shares in the company rallying since it was released. The gaming charts are being dominated by Pokémon Go as it has cleverly captured new users of the teen market and appealed to the young adult market who would have played the original game. As the game’s motto says: “you’ve got to catch ’em all”, and this game certainly is grabbing the attention of many people.
As previously mentioned, once you have installed this free game there are plenty of opportunities to spend and the players have reportedly spent more than $250m USD in the first few weeks. All predicted figures suggest that the game is on course to sell more than $1 billion by the end of the year. According to the survey carried out by YouGov at least one in five players of Pokémon Go spends money within the smartphone app.
Future for Nintendo – The launch of Pokémon Go was a great success but maintaining the level of interest is always the hardest task, especially once the game has been downloaded. For Nintendo the next challenge will be to build and maintain the interest, particularly in the elements of the game that requires players to spend money. There is always the possibility of sponsorship of the game in the future.
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Always adore anything about this thing