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Following its launch in Japan on 17th March Miitomo has achieved some impressive results. It passed one million downloads in three days, and at the time of writing is still topping the free-to-download charts for iPhone and Google Play in the country. As Nintendo's goal is to boost brand awareness through establishing a large userbase for the social app, it's sure to be pleased with results so far.

The positive performance now seems to be trickling through to the markets, as the performance of Miitomo is being credited with a sizeable increase in share value when the Tokyo exchange closed on 22nd March.

Nintendo's share value gained 1250 Yen, or 8.19% overall, which itself is the biggest increase since 15th February. The bump wipes out what was actually a couple of day's decline following the app's launch.

A major increase brings Nintendo's shares back up to par
Image: Bloomberg

Bloomberg quotes Tomoaki Kawasaki, an analyst at Iwai Cosmo Securities Co, who highlights how it's a representation of Nintendo's potential with its content on smart devices, albeit monetising those downloads is a challenge to be addressed.

They didn't even have to use Mario to get 1 million downloads, a testament to the power of Nintendo's content. The next question is how to monetize.

All of this positivity is only off the back of the Japanese release, of course. Both Miitomo and the My Nintendo loyalty programme are due to launch in a range of Western territories this month.

[source bloomberg.com]