The mobile game “Pokémon Go” was one of the hottest themes of 2016 and attracted millions of people around the world to interact with the game. Niantic Labs, which created the game, announced a new partnership with Nintendo to bring additional titles to the launch.
What happened: Niantic is teaming up with Nintendo Co Ltd (OTC: NTDOY) to bring additional characters to life using the company’s real-world augmented reality technology.
The first is the launch of a mobile game centered on the characters in Nintendo’s Pikmin series. Gameplay activities for the new game encourage walking. The game will be released in late 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 Nintendo’s biggest brands. The latest game “Pikmin 3” became the best-selling title in the series, with more than 1.9 million sales from October to January. The game sold particularly well in Japan, with more than 820,000 copies sold.
Related link: Remembering Pokémon’s 25th anniversary: collectible cards, video games and happy meals
Because it’s important: One of the most important conclusions from Niantic’s news may be what lies ahead. Niantic and Nintendo will develop games to bring Nintendo characters to life.
This, along with Niantic saying he would share more details about the “apps” in the coming months, says that more Nintendo characters could be receiving the “Nintendo Go” treatment.
With a huge catalog of intellectual property like Mario, Zelda and Animal Crossing, Nintendo fans can be thrilled to know that more mobile games are coming from Niantic.
Despite its launch in 2016, “Pokémon Go” had its best year in 2020 in terms of revenue. SensorTower reports that the game exceeded $ 1 billion in the first 10 months of 2020 and earned more than $ 4 billion in lifetime revenue.
After a 29% drop year-over-year in 2017, “Pokémon Go” increased its revenue each year from the previous year. The game was the third highest-grossing mobile title in 2020.
Niantic was kicked out of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) in 2015. The company has Nintendo, Google, The Pokémon Company and NetEase Inc (NASDAQ: NTES) among its investors.
NTDOY price action: Nintendo’s shares traded between $ 42.29 and $ 82.55 in the past 52 weeks.
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