DivinePaladin said:
They own a third and GF owns a third, with TPC owning the last third itself. But Nintendo also owns at least a third of GF (with TPC owning another third if my memory serves), so they're making far more than just 10% here since they're essentially the puppet master whenever they want to be. |
You got it backwards. Nintendo owns a third of Creatures Inc.
Game Freak is a completely separate third-party who can do whatever the hell they want.
See my previous posts in this topic:
| Aquamarine said: You're correct. For those who are confused, it's like this:
Nintendo directly owns 32% of the Pokemon Company Nintendo owns 35% of Creatures Inc. -> Creatures Inc. owns 32% of The Pokemon Company -> Nintendo indirectly owns 11% of The Pokemon Company = Nintendo owns 43% of The Pokemon Company directly and indirectly
30% of revenues from Pokemon Go go to The Pokemon Company, so Nintendo indirectly benefits from 13% of revenues of Pokemon Go (but they'll most likely just get reinvested into Pokemon) In addition, an extra 10% of revenues go directly to Nintendo = Therefore, Nintendo benefits from 23% of revenues in total, excluding their small share in Niantic and the dividends they may accrue. |
| Aquamarine said: Nintendo has significant influence over Creatures Inc. (35% direct ownership) and The Pokemon Company (43% direct and indirect ownership), so in the event Pokemon or Creatures Inc. tried to give the middle finger to Nintendo, then Nintendo would invoke a complex web of agreements and Japanese law to prevent Pokemon from going third-party even though Nintendo theoretically doesn't own a majority of Pokemon. Right now, Creatures Inc. can't do anything, so they just fall in line like good little peons. If Nintendo decided to sell their share in Creatures Inc., then Game Freak and Creatures Inc. could technically gang up against Nintendo and put full-fledged Pokemon on iOS / Android / PlayStation 4 / Xbox / Steam. But that's not going to happen any time soon.
Game Freak is a third-party developer (Nintendo doesn't own a single share of Game Freak), so theoretically Game Freak could walk away any time they want from Nintendo and Nintendo would have to find a new Pokemon developer. That's why Sega just published a Game Freak game...nobody can tell Game Freak how to run their company. But obviously Game Freak doesn't want to let go of its cash cow because that would be an incredibly risky venture with no guarantee of success. Pokemon works for them and it keeps them in business, so no need to rock the boat. |
