Nintendo shares surge as Pokemon GO craze takes off across the region

THE value of Nintendo Corporation has jumped by about $10 billion in two days as the number of users jumping on the Pokemon Go craze goes through the roof.

Pokemon Go allows you to capture Pokemon in a real world environment and is taking the region by storm. Picture Glenn Hampson.

THE value of Nintendo Corporation has jumped by about $10 billion in two days as the number of users jumping on the Pokemon GO craze goes through the roof.

Nintendo stock is up almost 25 per cent today on top of a 10 per cent jump on Friday, with Reuters reporting that this correlates to a $US7.5 billion ($9.95B) gain.

Pokemon GO — which allows users to catch and battle Pokemon in the real world via an augmented reality interface — is soon expected to have more daily users than Twitter despite only being available in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the US so far.

The app was only released last week but is now the most downloaded free app on Apple’s iOS platform and already has 4193 ratings.

While the app is free to download, it includes the capability for in-app purchases of $1.49-$159.99.

The game was developed in collaboration with Niantic Labs which was spun out of Google parent company Alphabet in August last year.

The companies are also launching a Pokemon GO wearable device to complement the game, priced at $US34.99.

“We are also super excited about the Pokémon GO Plus wearable device which will enable players to capture Pokémon and harvest items from PokéStops without ever taking their phone out of their pocket or bag,’’ Niantic says on its website.

“Players can explore the world and play the game while keeping their attention on the people and sites around them. A walk in the park just became more fun. :-)’’