Following the overwhelming success of the free-to-play mobile game Pokémon Go, Nintendo has enjoyed a significant 36% bump in its share prices over just two days – the largest increase the company has seen since 1983 when it launched its Family Computer home console (popularly known as the Famicom) in Japan.

Niantic and The Pokémon Company's re-imagining of the immensely popular RPG series as a free-to-play mobile title began rolling out to Android and iOS devices on 6 July, prompting Nintendo's shares to increase by 9.3%. On Monday 11 July, the company's share price rose again, this time by a whopping 24.5% to ¥20,260 (£153, $197).

Pokemon Go on IBTimes UK

The app quickly topped charts in its launch regions – Australia, New Zealand and parts of North America – as millions of Poké-fans on iOS and Android flocked to the Google Play Store and Apple App Store to download the GPS-powered game.

As a result of the widespread Pokémon Go fever - which has seen fans flock to weird and wonderful locations in search of Pocket Monsters - Nintendo's market value now sits at ¥2.9tn (£22bn, $28bn) which represents a rise of over $7bn.

Despite the increase, analysts are uncertain about how exactly the game will effect Nintendo's profit-margins in the long term. A Financial Times report notes that the Kyoto-based company's 33% stake in The Pokémon Company guarantees it 30% of the game's revenue, while its $30m investment in developer Niantic will bring in "about 10% of the Apple and Android store revenues."

Pokémon Go
Pokémon Go has sent Nintendo's shares into ascendancy. The Pokémon Company

While Pokémon Go is free to download, the game does offer in-app purchases which range from 79p to £79.99 in the forthcoming UK version. Evan Lucas, a market strategist at IG, explained to the BBC that "the question with all apps is monetisation. In-app purchases will be key to its long term monetary success; clearly the market believes there will be a windfall."

The Pokémon Go app - which populates the real-world with the titular creatures through a virtual map, GPS and augmented reality - has yet to receive an official release date in the UK and Europe, although a report has surfaced which claims that the game is due to hit other regions (including Japan) "within a few days".

For those already on the Poké-hunt, IBTimes UK has a series of guides to aid you in finding and catching Pokémon, how to level up and evolve them and how to compete in battles at Gyms.

For all the latest video game news follow us on Twitter @IBTGamesUK.

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