‘Pokemon Go’ Success Emboldens Investor Voice, Servers Hit By Notorious Hacking Group

The $17 billion in market value surge for Nintendo over the last week due to the overwhelming success of “Pokemon Go” has emboldened already vocal investors of the video game giant, declaring that the company should focus on mobile platforms even louder than before. At the same time, the group of hackers who claimed responsibility for the breaches of the accounts of high-profile individuals has launched an attack on “Pokemon Go” servers, preventing players from accessing the app.

According to Reuters, Seth Fischer of Oasis Management has become more vocal when it came to pushing Nintendo to invest more in mobile games. The success of “Pokemon Go” appears to be on the upward curve right now, as over 12 million players in the U.S. are scrambling to collect them all; a number that even “Niantic Labs” was not expecting. Fischer is using the opportunity to highlight the kind of market Nintendo could be making money in if they just jumped onboard.

"I hope they will now understand the power of smartphones," Fischer said. "And as a result, I hope this means there is a whole change in strategy. My next focus with Nintendo is for them to focus on monetizing the rest of their 4,000 patents for mobile gaming, multi-player gaming, et cetera. I think they could be making 30 to 60 billion yen ($290 million to $570 million) annually from licensing."

In related news, OurMine, the notorious hacker group that has been hitting high-profile Twitter accounts left and right has claimed responsibility for preventing players from logging into their “Pokemon Go” accounts. Tech Crunch reports that the group has threatened to continue its attacks until representatives of “Niantic Labs” contact them so that OurMine could supposedly teach the video game developers how to improve their security.

This is just the latest in the group’s series of attempts to be taken seriously as a digital security firm.