Pokémon Go Having Best Year Ever: Why Investors Should Watch Nintendo's Stock

Launched in 2016, “Pokémon Go” took the world by storm as one of the top downloaded games and grossing games in its first year. The game is breaking records once again four years later.

What Happened: “Pokemon Go” has player spend revenue of $4.2 billion globally since launching, according to IGN. 

In 2020, the game has grossed over $1 billion so far, making it the best year ever for the game in terms of revenue. Revenue for the game is up 11% to all of 2019 with two months to go and is up 30% year-over-year through the first 10 months of the year.

The game is the third-largest mobile game for revenue behind “PUBG Mobile” and “Honor of Kings,” two mobile games from Tencent Holdings TCEHY.

Related Link: Pokémon Card $375K Record Box Is Fake: Here's What The Buyer Learned

Good News for Nintendo: The success of “Pokémon Go” could be a catalyst for Nintendo Co. NTDOY.

Nintendo owns a 33% stake in The Pokémon Company. Nintendo is also an investor in “Pokémon Go” game creator Niantic, which also counts The Pokémon Company as an investor as well.

“Pokémon Go” is also seeing more integration with “Pokémon Sword and Shield,” a game for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo has been launching downloadable content for the game this year and seen strong digital sales.

Good News For Phone Companies: The success of “Pokémon Go” and its increased monetization in 2020 is good news for Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL unit Google and Apple Inc AAPL.

Revenue from “Pokémon Go” on Google Play stands at $2.2 billion since the game launched. The total on Apple devices is $1.9 billion. Both companies collect a portion of the revenue from in-game purchases.

Niantic is a former Alphabet company that was spun out. Google owns a small stake in the company.

NTDOY Price Action: Shares of Nintendo are up 7% to $73.55 on Thursday. Shares hit a new 52-week high after reporting quarterly earnings.