The speculation now is that Pokémon Go will launch in Japan on July 16 to coincide with the three-day holiday weekend. Its wild success in the US has sharpened the focus on how the game will perform in Japan - a smartphone games market that, according to Yano Research, still surpasses China as the most valuable in the world with annual sales of around $9bn. That is much more important than it sounds, and . . . a big part of Pokémon Go’s success,” says Serkan Toto, a Tokyo-based games industry consultant.Īnalysts predict an even greater surge in usage as summer holidays make their mark, but they note the early Pokémon Go numbers suggest the game is a hit with both children and adults. “Nintendo is not the main developer of Pokémon Go, but seeing Miyamoto there indicates that he was part of the process of setting the tone.
The presence of games guru Shigeru Miyamoto - the brains behind Mario, Zelda and other Nintendo blockbusters - at the Pokémon Go announcement event last September added to the sense that conservative Nintendo has finally embraced the smartphone as a legitimate medium for its genius. Rivals have tried with much less success, and analysts say Pokémon Go is a reminder that Nintendo holds some of the most valuable character intellectual property in the world. Nintendo’s market value now stands at ¥2.9tn ($28bn).Īnalysts at Jefferies, eyeing those numbers and referring to a previous Nintendo favourite - and one of the best-selling video game titles of all time - described Pokémon Go as “like Wii Fit, but more addictive”.Īnd, as with Wii Fit, Nintendo is once again pioneering a crossover between online games and physical exertion.
The game, in which smartphone users physically seek out and collect a pantheon of virtual monsters around real-world locations, has topped the “most downloaded” charts for both the Android and Apple app stores faster than any other game in history.
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