Stefan Heunis, Getty Images
A picture taken on July 14, 2016 shows a warning sign advising users to be aware of your surroundings flashing on a smartphone of a player in Lagos on July 14, 2016.
Pokemon Go mania has players armed with smartphones hunting streets, parks, rivers, landmarks and other sites to capture monsters and gather supplies. The free app, based on a Nintendo title that debuted 20 years ago, has been adapted to the mobile internet age by Niantic Labs, a company spun out of Google last year. Pokemon Go uses smartphone satellite location, graphics and camera capabilities to overlay cartoon monsters on real world settings, challenging players to capture and train the creatures for battles.
/ AFP PHOTO / STEFAN HEUNISSTEFAN HEUNIS/AFP/Getty Images Getting your player ready...
TOKYO — For Nintendo, “Pokemon Go” just keeps on giving.
Shares in the Japanese game maker closed up 14 percent at 31,700 yen ($300) on the Tokyo Stock exchange Tuesday and have more than doubled in value since the wildly popular augmented-reality game was launched on July 6.
Nintendo accounted for nearly one in four shares that changed hands on the TSE’s main board. The sharp rise has doubled the Kyoto-based company’s market capitalization to 4.5 trillion yen ($42.4 billion).
“Pokemon Go,” a smartphone app that uses Google Maps to overlay reality with Pokemon creatures, was developed by Niantic, a Google spinoff that Nintendo Co. invested in last year. The game has yet to be released in Japan and the rest of Asia.
