Shares of Capcom surged to a record on Tuesday after the Japanese company unveiled Monster Hunter Now, a new mobile game developed with Pokemon Go creator Niantic.
Capcom’s stock rose 9% in Tokyo, adding to a winning streak that’s seen the company quadruple its value over the past four years. The Osaka-based creator of Resident Evil and Street Fighter is Japan’s top maker of big-budget titles for consoles and PCs, and franchises like Monster Hunter have helped it sustain momentum even without monetizing the mobile games arena as well as competitors.
The new iteration of the fantasy role-playing game uses smartphone geolocation to let players find each other and then work together to trap or kill monsters overlaid on a fantasy version of the real world. In this alternate reality, Tokyo’s Shibuya entertainment district can become a vast desert, a swamp or a forest, teeming with the 19-year-old Capcom franchise’s creatures.