Nintendo investors rally, temper following smartphone announcement

In light of Nintendo's announcement of a smart phone Pokemon game, company stocks jumped, but tempered when Nintendo insisted that its development structure hadn't changed.

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Nintendo's surprise announcement of a Pokemon game for iOS and Android devices yesterday left the stock market buzzing. The company saw a stock jump by 4.9 percent at its highest point, its biggest jump since March 16, reports Bloomberg. However, Nintendo has cautioned not to expect heavy investment into smart phones.

Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa clarified the company's development plans, saying its strategy "hasn't changed and won't change" regarding the focus on first-party hardware. This trimmed down the stock climb, and it closed at 1.2 percent.

So while Nintendo insists that its plans haven't changed, market analysts claim that this should serve as a message to Nintendo. "The share movement showed how much investors are hoping for Nintendo to change its strategy," said Mitsuo Shimizu of Cosmo Securities in Tokyo. "Nintendo should consider developing games for smartphones or players that can also act as mobile phones, as it suits the lifestyles of many people."

Nintendo has been critical of smart phone development in the past. President Satoru Iwata even made a point of criticizing it in his GDC keynote earlier this year. He suggested that phone providers value quantity of content over quality, and those games lack a level of polish and vision. Now that Nintendo is dipping a tentative toe in the smart phone pool, we'll have to see if the company feels differently next time Iwata speaks.

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