Nintendo’s tremendously successful Pokémon Go is expanding in more countries across Europe. In addition to releasing on the App Store in Germany and the United Kingdom a few days ago, the augmented-reality game which requires people to go out hunting for pokémon is now available for download in Italy, Spain and Portugal.
The game is available on a freemium basis, with optional In-App Purchases ranging from 99 cents to as much as $99. According to a Sensor Tower survey, players in the United States are spending approximately $1.6 million per day on in-app transactions within the iOS edition of the game alone.
Nintendo shares jumped nearly 10 percent to a six-year high on Friday as the retro-styled title became more popular than Twitter just one week after its launch in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.
“When you look at the way it’s becoming a social phenomenon in the U.S., the rally is understandable even though it’s not clear yet how much it will boost profits,” markets analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama told Reuters.
“People still remember the time when the Wii and the DS became a hit and boosted Nintendo’s shares,” he added, referring to the company’s popular game consoles – one of which Nintendo has announced will be returning to stores around the world on November 11 in the form of the ‘NES Classic Mini’.
As of today, you can download Pokémon Go in the following countries:
Developer Niantic Labs, which created the game in co-operation with Nintendo and Pokémon Company, is planning on gradually bringing it to a total of 200 markets as Pokémon Go continues to top App Store charts in the countries where it’s currently available.
Pokémon Go has received two updates following its July 6 debut on iOS and Android.
The first update squashed a bunch of bugs and fixed an annoying problem with the game requiring full Google Account access, while the second update contains fixes for Pokémon Trainer Club login.