Nintendo reminds investors it didn't make Pokemon Go, stock plummets
The company's share price more than doubled in the two weeks following the release of the augmented reality game -- but it dropped by 18 percent on Monday.
Pokemon Go has been such a hit that it caused Nintendo's stock to double. On Friday, however, the company reminded investors that it didn't actually make the game -- causing stocks to drop by 18 percent on Monday.
"[Pokemon Go] is developed and distributed by Niantic," Nintendo said in a statement on Friday. "The Pokemon Company, which is an affiliated company of Nintendo, holds the ownership rights to Pokemon."
It adds that Nintendo owns 32 percent of The Pokemon Company and, therefore, Pokemon Go's impact on Nintendo's business "is limited."
This prompted Nintendo's stock to fall by 18 percent on Tokyo's Stock Exchange, according to Bloomberg, dropping the company's market value by roughly $6.7 billion. This is likely an omen of things to come, with the publication noting that 18 percent is the most a company's stock can drop in a day due to Tokyo Stock Exchange regulations.
It follows Nintendo seeing gargantuan rises in its stock following Pokemon Go's initial US release in early July. On July 5, Nintendo's shares were priced at 14,490 yen ($136.59). By July 19 they had more than doubled, closing out at 31,770 yen ($299.49). At the time of writing, Nintendo stock sits at 23,220 yen ($218.46).
Nintendo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While this may be bad news for the company, Japanese fans are likely still on a high after Pokemon Go finally launched in their country last Thursday.