A Pokemon Go deal between Japanese tech giant SoftBank and Niantic Labs lifted shares of SoftBank and Nintendo on Thursday.
SoftBank announced a deal with Niantic, the augmented reality game’s developer, to designate 3,700 of SoftBank’s retail phone stores in Japan as Pokemon Go hotspots, known as PokeStops, and Gyms within the stops. The deal is said to be similar to the arrangement that Niantic hatched with the Japanese arm of the McDonalds fast food chain prior to the games launch in July.
Nintendo shares rose 3.3% Thursday to JPY23,430 and SoftBank shares edged up by 1.6% to JPY6,867 in trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Niantic is owned by Google, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company
