Nintendo’s shares plummet after it issues profit warning on Pokémon GO

Shares in Nintendo have taken a severe hit on Friday after the Japanese giant issued a profit warning, telling shareholders that the financial gain from Pokémon GO would be nothing substantial.

The company’s stock fell 17.7% by the close of the Nikkei Index, roughly calculating to ¥‎5000 with Reuters reporting that this is the worst hit to Nintendo’s share prices since October 1990. Shares in the company have skyrocketed in the weeks following the release of augmented reality title Pokémon GO, which has seen immense popularity in the territories it has been released in with the game breaking a download record of 10m copies in Japan  Despite its success, Nintendo announced in their warning that they will not be revising their profit forecasts for this quarter or later on in the financial year.

“The market has overreacted to the Nintendo statement,” Macquarie Securities Group’s senior analyst David Gibson told Reuters. “I believe that Pokemon Go will be material in the company’s earnings given the current trends for the game.”

It is expected that Nintendo will see a slight profit rise from that sale of Pokémon GO Plus, a wearable wrist device that alerts players to nearby Pokémon without them having to constantly look at their phone. However, Nintendo have said that the sales of this device have already been factored into their current forecast.

Pokémon Go is now available on iOS and Android devices.

Thanks, ArsTechnica.