More Nintendo Characters Are Coming To 'Pokémon Go'-Styled Mobile Games

The mobile game “Pokémon Go” was one of the hottest topics in 2016 and got millions of people around the world outside to interact with the game. Niantic Labs, which created the game, announced a new partnership with Nintendo to bring additional titles to launch.

What Happened: Niantic is teaming up with Nintendo Co Ltd NTDOY to bring additional characters to life using the company’s real-world augmented reality technology.

Up first is the launch of a mobile game centered around the characters from the Nintendo series Pikmin. Gameplay activities for the new game will encourage walking. The game will launch later in 2021 and is the first title created by Niantic’s Tokyo studio, which was established in 2018.

Niantic will share more details about the game in the future.

Pikmin is not one of the biggest Nintendo brands. The latest “Pikmin 3” game became the bestselling title in the series with over 1.9 million sales from October through January. The game sold particularly well in Japan with over 820,000 copies sold.

Related Link: Looking Back On Pokemon’s 25th Anniversary: Trading Cards, Video Games And Happy Meals

Why It’s Important: One of the most important takeaways from the Niantic news could be what’s to come. Niantic and Nintendo will jointly develop games to bring Nintendo characters to life.

That along with Niantic saying it would share more details about the “apps” in the coming months states that more Nintendo characters could be getting the “Nintendo Go” treatment.

With a huge catalog of intellectual property like Mario, Zelda and Animal Crossing, Nintendo fans could be excited to hear that more mobile games are coming from Niantic.

Despite a 2016 launch, “Pokémon Go” had its best year in 2020 in terms of revenue. SensorTower reports the game surpassed $1 billion in the first 10 months of 2020 and had earned over $4 billion in lifetime revenue.

After a dip of 29% year-over-year in 2017, “Pokémon Go” has increased its revenue each year from the prior year. The game was the third highest-grossing mobile title in 2020.

Niantic was spun out of Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL in 2015. The company counts Nintendo, Google, The Pokémon Company and NetEase Inc NTES among its investors.

NTDOY Price Action: Shares of Nintendo have traded between $42.29 and $82.55 over the last 52-weeks.