Pokemon Go is by far one of the most popular games right now. People are going crazy for the game across the world. Nintendo is enjoying all of the attention after a bit of a dormant period too - there’s just one problem. Nintendo did not make Pokemon Go.

The Real Pokemon Go Team

Pokemon Go was actually created by Niantic - a company that’s somewhat an offshoot of Google. Niantic had been working on the virtual reality tech that is used in Pokemon Go for some time now, and the company wanted to hook the technology up with recognizable characters. This is where Nintendo comes into play.

Nintendo has a small stake in Niantic, but the video game company did not create the Pokemon Go game - nor does Nintendo own Pokemon Go. Niantic owns and has developed this game. This was a massive shock to investors that swarmed in on Nintendo shortly after the game was released (shooting Nintendo stock up towards the sky).

But Nintendo properly states that the company never hid the true developers of the game from the public.

Listen, Please

Nintendo has been stating all along that Niantic created Pokemon Go. The company has, in fact, stated this many times throughout the past few weeks. For some reason, though, people did not listen and kept investing in Nintendo. Now that the truth is finally being heard, Nintendo stock has dipped 18% (still higher than it was at the start of the Pokemon Go craze).

So can you invest in Niantic instead? Nope. Niantic is not publicly traded. Nintendo will get a licensing fee and compensation for collaboration with Niantic, but the company will not get all the profit from the game. Nintendo does have a 32% stake in Niantic, but the amount of money that the gaming company will make from Pokemon Go is minimal.

Pokemon Go Plus

Nintendo is working on an addition to Pokemon Go called Pokemon Go Plus. Pokemon Go Plus will be developed by Nintendo and will allow Pokemon Go users to play the game without always keeping a phone on - how this will work is unclear at this time, but the game addition is slated for release this summer.

The Niantic game did do a few good things for Nintendo, though. The company has seen what moving further into mobile can do, which might mean that Nintendo will focus more on mobile in the future. Plus, the Pokemon Go craze did give Nintendo some recognition for its mobile characters, which may mean that the company’s new mobile games (which will be released soon) will gain some traction off the bat.

What Pokemon Go did not do for Nintendo is make the company rich. The amount that Nintendo will earn from Pokemon Go is very minimal, and it’s not really enough to make Nintendo stock exciting. The Pokemon Go tech belongs to (and was developed by) Niantic. So Niantic is really the company to keep your eye on here - Nintendo just owns the characters.