Nintendo Does Not Deserve Most Of The Credit For The Success Of 'Pokémon GO'

Paul Tassi ,  

 CONTRIBUTOR

News and opinion about video games, technology and the internet  

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Today, Nintendo stock is plummeting (down 17.7% at the time of this writing) due to the fact that investors have finally realized what should have been obvious from the start. The massive success of Pokémon GO does not necessarily mean an enormous windfall for Nintendo, given how much of a stake they actually have in the game.

Nintendo is no stranger to seemingly out of nowhere smash hits, most notably the Wii, where a hundred million console sales set them up for years to come. Now, withPokémon GO becoming the biggest mobile game of all time in a matter of weeks, many thought lightning was striking twice.

But it isn’t for Nintendo, not really, and I would make the argument that Nintendo has been getting entirely too much credit forPokémon GO from the start. It’s been their “big comeback story,” but now investors are starting to realize that isn’t necessarily the case.

 

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So what exactly is going on here?

Nintendo does not own Pokémon outright, as many believe. In fact, they own one third of “The Pokémon Company,” along with Game Freak and Creatures, who have all banded together to make nearly every Pokémon game since launch.