Nintendo Breaks This Major Record Thanks to Pokemon Go

Pokemon Go continues to benefit Nintendo's business, despite the fact that Nintendo didn't even make the game. According to a report from Bloomberg, Nintendo broke a Tokyo stock market record on Friday, when the company traded ¥476 billion ($4.5 billion) worth of shares.

What's that mean? According to Bloomberg (via Polygon), Nintendo was most traded company by value of shares this century in Japan on Friday. It topped single-day performance of big-name companies such as Tokyo Electric, SoftBank, Mizuho, Nippon Steel, and Aiful.

Nintendo shares have surged more than 86 percent since Pokemon Go came out, adding $17 billion to the company's market value.

Google spinoff Niantic Labs developed Pokemon Go in collaboration with The Pokemon Company. Nintendo owns a piece of The Pokemon Company, which may explain why its share price has spiked so dramatically since Pokemon Go's initial release.

Pokemon Go is free, though there are some items players can spend real money to acquire. Given the game's massive userbase, those microtransactions may prove to be lucrative. A recent report claimed the game had already made $14 million. Additionally, Niantic is working with retail establishments--possibly McDonald's--to make some businesses sponsored locations.

The game is out now in many major markets, including the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, as well as a number of other places. Pokemon Go will come to another big region, Japan, once Niantic Labs is more confident servers can support it.

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