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Nintendo's Shares Have Slumped After Idiots Realised They Don't Own 'Pokémon GO'

Looks like they invested before checking who has the rights to the game. Nice going, guys.

(Image via YouTube)

If you ever needed any more evidence that the global financial industry – and, by extension, the thing that controls our pathetic lives – is as frivolous and ludicrous as a diamond-encrusted SpongeGar iPhone case, then the fluctuating shares in Nintendo have you covered.

The Japanese video game company experienced an extreme boost in shares after Pokémon GO – the augmented reality game that you already know everything about – was released earlier this month. However, investors clearly didn't google it properly, or perhaps just couldn't be bothered, because Nintendo don't own the app; it was a company called Niantic, Inc. that created and published the game. Shares in Nintendo subsequently dropped by a fairly large 17 percent.

Annons

In fact, Nintendo only have a 33 percent stake in Pokémon as a franchise. The Pokémon Company, which owns the copyright to Pokémon, is a joint venture between Nintendo, Game Freak and development company Creatures. The maximum profit share Nintendo stand to gain from Pokémon GO is 30 percent.

That said, Nintendo's shares are still up 60 percent, even after the sharp decline. Pretty mad that a company has to basically tell these people to stop investing because they'd made a huge mistake or just hadn't bothered to check. Man, glad these guys are the ones with all the money!

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