Pokemon Go's Latest Achievement: Helping Sell Pizza

While reported thieves are using Pokemon Go's "lure" feature to target their victims, others are leveraging it to improve their business. One Long Island pizza place, L'inizo Pizza Bar, is now reporting that business has spiked dramatically as a result of Pokemon Go.

"The amount of people has been astonishing," the restaurant's owner, Tom Lattanzio, told The New York Post. "All day long, from afternoon to evening this past weekend."

The restaurant paid $10 to acquire lures that drew a dozen Pokemon to the establishment. So many people came in that business surged by 75 percent (though it's unclear what this is comparing against).

"We had people come down, sit down, and get a couple beers and play the Pokemon game," manager Sean Benedetti said.

In the future, restaurants like L'inizo Pizza Bar may have a more official method of attracting customers to their establishments by way of Pokemon Go. Developer Niantic Labs has confirmed that retail establishments will be able to pay to have their shop become a sponsored location that presumably hosts rare Pokemon and attractive items or is a gym.

Niantic has already reached partnerships with some companies for sponsored Pokemon Go locations. They haven't been announced yet, but one could be fast food giant McDonald's.

Pokemon Go launched last week and has become a phenomenon on a level that Niantic might not have even imagined. On the business side, its release has added $9 billion to Nintendo's market cap. Nintendo didn't make the game, but it owns a share of The Pokemon Company, which produced Pokemon Go in partnership with Niantic.

Recently, it was reported that in wake of the game's huge success, Hollywood studios are scrambling to sign a deal for the Pokemon movie rights. In other news, two US Marines who were playing Pokemon Go helped catch an attempted murder suspect this week in California.

For more on Pokemon Go, check out GameSpot's review.