Nintendo Surges with Mario Kart 8 Success
After Nintendo released news of its expanding by releasing games for the iPad, and surpassed one million units in U.S. sales for its Mario Kart 8 video game, it rose as much as 6.9 percent. It's the highest surge for Nintendo since March 24.
Mario Kart 8 is the second Wii U title to sell more than one million units alongside Super Mario Bros. U. The new roster of games are apart of Nintendo's effort to revive demand for its declining Wii U console and reach the players who are shifting to smartphone games and their rivals, Sony Corp.'s Playstation 4 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox One.
"Mario Kart 8 is selling well in other regions, as well," said Yasuhiro Minagawa, a spokesman for Nintendo.
The company is currently working on bringing Pokémon: Trading Card Game Online, which will be exclusively available for Apple's iPad before the end of 2014. This ends Nintendo's previous preference to release games solely for its own consoles, and perhaps the potential profit of extending their market was difficult to ignore.
"Yes, we can confirm that is the Pokémon TCG Online iPad app, and it's coming later this year," a spokesperson for The Pokémon Company.
By releasing a Pokémon game for the iPad, Nintendo will be able to service and monetize a whole new audience and also make it even easier to play its games. The iPad device is owned by million of people all over the world and is one of most popular mobile game-playing devices.
Nintendo will also be able to provide in-game purchases like booster packs. The opportunity has the potential to bring in massive revenue.
The title will be available in the U.S. and Europe. Its release date remains unknown and engadget reported the game would be available as an iPad app.