Nintendo’s shares plunged after the company said late Friday that the worldwide success of Pokémon Go will not significantly impact its financial results. Nothing Nintendo disclosed about the ownership of the game was new information, but markets were shocked anyway.
The stock sank 18 percent to 23,220 yen at the close in Tokyo, the maximum one-day move allowed by the exchange, noted Bloomberg. After the drop, Nintendo’s stock remained flat. In morning trading today, the Kyoto-based company’s shares were down $2.36, or 8.14 percent, at $26.64.
On Friday, Nintendo put out a statement pointing out that it owns only 32 percent of the voting power of The Pokémon Company, an affiliated company that holds the ownership rights to Pokémon. Nintendo also owns 13 percent of Niantic, the San Francisco-based mobile developer spun out of Google last year who developed and distributed the game.
“Because of this accounting scheme, the income reflected on the company’s consolidated business results is limited,” Nintendo wrote in a notice.
Also, Nintendo said that “Pokémon Go Plus,” its peripheral device for use with the application, is scheduled for release and it’s already reflected in the financial forecast.
Following Pokémon Go’s release in the U.S. at the beginning of July, Nintendo’s market valuation soared to more than $40 billion, passing Sony. The game was finally launched in Japan on Thursday, July 21, after having been postponed because of an email leak.
Nintendo is expected to report first-quarter earnings on Wednesday.
