Pokémon Go has made an estimated $600 million in revenue for its developer, Niantic Labs, in the three months since it launched, according to App Annie. Reconciling that with Nintendo’s earnings indicates that Nintendo gets a 19% cut of the game’s total revenues.
What’s more, Pokémon Go had a halo effect, Nintendo said, driving the firm’s hardware sales up by 19% compared to a year earlier, even though the game doesn’t require the company’s handheld consoles because it’s played on Android and iOS smartphones. This added ¥40.7 billion in revenue for the quarter.
But the effects of the runaway hit were tempered by other uncontrollable factors. The Japanese yen has gained 14% against the US dollar this year, dampening the game’s success on Nintendo’s yen-denominated accounts. It reported a ¥4.9 billion forex loss for the quarter (pdf), taking its currency losses for the year to ¥39.9 billion. This resulted in an operating loss of ¥812 million for the quarter.