Entertainment

'Pokemon GO' Made Nintendo a Snorlax-Sized Chunk of Money

Despite splitting profits with developers and other shareholders.

Nintendo released the results of its 2016 fiscal year, and on top of the wild success story that is the Nintendo Switch and its flagship gem, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, one of the most noteworthy parts of the report is the continued success of Pokémon GO, which brought in around $180 million in profit. Profit is, of course, way more important than revenue.

The thing is, the revenue from Pokémon GO is split up into several pieces. Though the exact numbers are not publicly disclosed, Nintendo has to split sales with Pokémon GO developer Niantic and also The Pokémon Company. Oddly enough, Nintendo already has a one-third stake in The Pokémon Company, so the exact percentage of the revenue Nintendo is able to make off the game is only a bit unclear.

Quartz reconciled Pokémon GO revenue data revealed through App Genie with Nintendo’s second-quarter earnings in 2016 to determine that Nintendo takes about 19 percent of the game’s total revenues.

What exactly does that mean?

That means that despite splitting the revenue from Pokémon GO every which way, Nintendo alone still made back its investment and was able to reap a cool $180 million profit in the process.

tfw you're Nintendo looking at your 2016 fiscal year.

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