Since its release on July 6th 2016, Pokémon Go has become the biggest craze in the world with brands, politicians and celebrities all jumping on the bandwagon. Since release hundreds of pages have sprung up offering Pokémon Go guides, strategies and tips.
The mobile game is one of the first mainstream, well-known game series to be updated to make use of augmented reality on smart phones. At 20 years old, Pokémon is a well-established brand with a loyal fan base. Nintendo have pulled off a master-stroke by cashing in on the nostalgia that comes with that and combining it with a revolutionary gaming experience.
The Pokémon Go Experience
Pokémon Go uses GPS to understand a player’s location. It makes use of real-world landmarks such as restaurants, statues, shops and monuments, using these as in-game locations such as PokeGyms and PokeShops. This results in one thing - players have to move! Pokémon Go players visit these locations to do battle and get supplies. If they want to catch new Pokémon they have to walk about and find them. What the new format does is really make the player the Pokémon trainer. Where on the Gameboy game the player would press the arrow keys and move Ash around the map, in the latest version the player does all that walking. Exploring to discover new Pokémon and become the Gym Leader.
The Numbers behind Pokémon Go
Within one day of release, Pokémon Go was installed on more US android phones than Tinder. On day one of release Pokémon Go generated $4.5m of revenue. Two days after release it was installed in over 5% of all android phones in the US. After 5 days, it was the most successful mobile game, overtaking Angry Birds and Candy Crush. Three weeks after release the game had been downloaded over 75 million times.
75 million times! That is more than the combined populations of Sweden, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, Cuba, Netherlands, Finland and Denmark combined.
The PokéBandwagon
As is the case with all trends, it did not take long before celebrities, brands and politicians soon jumped on the bandwagon.
US Presidential candidate, Hilary Clinton, has been talking about getting people to “Pokémon Go” to the polls this week.
McDonald’s is becoming the first company to officially partner with the makers of the game, Niantic Labs, by doing so in Japan.
Similarly, lots of small restaurants and business have seen a boost in business. Some clever businesses with Pokestops nearby having been paying to place ‘lures’ on them to attract Pokémon which attract then bring players with them.
For more stats - check out the infographic from bargainfox.co.uk below:
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