Pokémon Go blasted on the scene seemingly out of nowhere. In less than three weeks the augmented reality (AR) game became the biggest game ever, surpassing Candy Crush with more than 20 million North American users per day. With Pokémon Go, AR may have finally reached sufficient velocity for takeoff.
Go out to any of your town’s landmarks and you’ll see young adults at all times of day and night holding their smartphones two feet from their face with one hand. They’re not texting. Pokémon Go is expected to soon surpass Twitter and Google Maps as a most-used app. Just wait till it’s released in Japan.
The game was developed by Google spinoff, Niantic, using Nintendo’s Pokémon characters. Niantic had been running the AR game Ingress as a niche play for years. Both companies saw their stock prices spike since the launch. The lure of the game is that you interact with Pokémon characters in real environments using a smartphone cameras and GPS technology.
I’m trying to cool off right now, having broken a sweat after venturing outside to do something I haven’t done in a while: hunt for Pokémon. I raced out the door when I saw that Niantic had rolled out a new “nearby” fix called “Sightings,” which is supposed to make wild Pokémon trackable again.
“Sightings” actually rolled out to everyone, and a more specific fix is being tested in San Francisco only right now
BBC:
Iran becomes first country to ban and block access to Pokémon Go, following a years-old religious ruling issued against an earlier Pokémon card game — Authorities in Iran have banned the Pokemon Go app because of unspecified “security concerns”.
Authorities in Iran have banned the Pokemon Go app because of unspecified “security concerns”.
The decision was taken by the High Council of Virtual Spaces, the official body overseeing online activity.
Iran follows a number of other countries in expressing its worries over security related to the game.
But it becomes the first country to issue a ban of Pokemon Go, that challenges players to visit real-world locations to catch cartoon monsters.
Indonesia has banned police officers from playing the game while on duty, and a French player was arrested last month after straying on to a military base while trying to catch Pokemon.
Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
In-app payments for Pokémon Go crossed $268M within five weeks of launch, according to YouGov’s survey of nearly 50K people from the UK, US, and Germany — Players of Pokémon Go have spent more than $250m on the addictive “augmented reality” mobile game in its first few weeks …
Players of Pokémon Go have spent more than $250m on the addictive “augmented reality” mobile game in its first few weeks, according to an international survey, with the figures suggesting it is on course to hit $1bn in sales.
One in five players of Pokémon Go spends money within the smartphone app — with 11m paying users in the UK and US alone
A Pentagon source tells Inside the Ring that the Defense Department has banned the playing of the mobile video game Pokemon Go within Defense Department facilities, over concerns the popular application could facilitate foreign spying.
A memorandum sent July 19 warned all officials and defense contractors that playing Pokemon Go, the hugely popular Japanese video game, poses a potential a security risk to secure and sensitive facilities.
Pokemon Go uses the Global Positioning System satellite network for maps of areas around the handheld mobile devices that utilize the application.
The game also could provide personal data on Pentagon officials with access to secrets
What goes up must come down, but certainly not this quickly. Pokémon GO, which for a time was making considerably more than the entirety of the rest of the mobile economy, is currently sitting at #9 on the app store’s “top grossing” chart on iOS, just below the perennially popular Candy Crush Saga. Hard to believe that it was only a few short months ago that the world seemed to lose its collective mind over finding virtual creatures out in the real world, walking into traffic with heads down into phones and stampeding across traffic for a shot at a Vaporeon. Matching candies may not be quite as exciting, but it would appear to be more reliable.
It’s important to remember that this is still, by any development standards, a wild success. Pokémon GO, even at #9, is making a huge amount of money, and it’s not like it didn’t make all that money before, either. #9 is a major achievement for any developer.
But that’s only when we compare it to other games out there. On an intuitive level, it’s not hard to see what’s happened here. Pokémon GO could well have stayed at the top of the app chart for much longer, but its shortcomings just proved too much for the vast majority of the player base.
We’re not lost yet, though Niantic and The Pokémon Company may have to wait until next spring to get a genuine shot at this again.
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7 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is Pokémon Go the Tipping Point for AR?
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=281070&cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20160726.tst004c
Pokémon Go blasted on the scene seemingly out of nowhere. In less than three weeks the augmented reality (AR) game became the biggest game ever, surpassing Candy Crush with more than 20 million North American users per day. With Pokémon Go, AR may have finally reached sufficient velocity for takeoff.
Go out to any of your town’s landmarks and you’ll see young adults at all times of day and night holding their smartphones two feet from their face with one hand. They’re not texting. Pokémon Go is expected to soon surpass Twitter and Google Maps as a most-used app. Just wait till it’s released in Japan.
The game was developed by Google spinoff, Niantic, using Nintendo’s Pokémon characters. Niantic had been running the AR game Ingress as a niche play for years. Both companies saw their stock prices spike since the launch. The lure of the game is that you interact with Pokémon characters in real environments using a smartphone cameras and GPS technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Pokémon GO’s New ‘Sightings’ Feature Is A Tracking Fix That Actually Works [Update]
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2016/08/08/pokemon-gos-new-sightings-feature-is-a-tracking-fix-that-actually-works-2/#6575883b53e8
I’m trying to cool off right now, having broken a sweat after venturing outside to do something I haven’t done in a while: hunt for Pokémon. I raced out the door when I saw that Niantic had rolled out a new “nearby” fix called “Sightings,” which is supposed to make wild Pokémon trackable again.
“Sightings” actually rolled out to everyone, and a more specific fix is being tested in San Francisco only right now
Tomi Engdahl says:
BBC:
Iran becomes first country to ban and block access to Pokémon Go, following a years-old religious ruling issued against an earlier Pokémon card game — Authorities in Iran have banned the Pokemon Go app because of unspecified “security concerns”.
Pokemon Go banned by Iranian authorities over ‘security’
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36989526
Authorities in Iran have banned the Pokemon Go app because of unspecified “security concerns”.
The decision was taken by the High Council of Virtual Spaces, the official body overseeing online activity.
Iran follows a number of other countries in expressing its worries over security related to the game.
But it becomes the first country to issue a ban of Pokemon Go, that challenges players to visit real-world locations to catch cartoon monsters.
Indonesia has banned police officers from playing the game while on duty, and a French player was arrested last month after straying on to a military base while trying to catch Pokemon.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
In-app payments for Pokémon Go crossed $268M within five weeks of launch, according to YouGov’s survey of nearly 50K people from the UK, US, and Germany — Players of Pokémon Go have spent more than $250m on the addictive “augmented reality” mobile game in its first few weeks …
Pokémon Go crosses $250m in revenues since launch
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0%2F2dd63522-5fdf-11e6-ae3f-77baadeb1c93.html#axzz4HCIWtRZT
Players of Pokémon Go have spent more than $250m on the addictive “augmented reality” mobile game in its first few weeks, according to an international survey, with the figures suggesting it is on course to hit $1bn in sales.
One in five players of Pokémon Go spends money within the smartphone app — with 11m paying users in the UK and US alone
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pentagon bans Pokemon Go over spying fears
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/11/pentagon-bans-pokemon-go-over-spying-fears/
A Pentagon source tells Inside the Ring that the Defense Department has banned the playing of the mobile video game Pokemon Go within Defense Department facilities, over concerns the popular application could facilitate foreign spying.
A memorandum sent July 19 warned all officials and defense contractors that playing Pokemon Go, the hugely popular Japanese video game, poses a potential a security risk to secure and sensitive facilities.
Pokemon Go uses the Global Positioning System satellite network for maps of areas around the handheld mobile devices that utilize the application.
The game also could provide personal data on Pentagon officials with access to secrets
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Pokémon GO’ Continues To Slide Down App Store Charts
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2016/10/18/pokemon-go-continues-to-slide-down-app-store-charts/#6e718add5f7b
What goes up must come down, but certainly not this quickly. Pokémon GO, which for a time was making considerably more than the entirety of the rest of the mobile economy, is currently sitting at #9 on the app store’s “top grossing” chart on iOS, just below the perennially popular Candy Crush Saga. Hard to believe that it was only a few short months ago that the world seemed to lose its collective mind over finding virtual creatures out in the real world, walking into traffic with heads down into phones and stampeding across traffic for a shot at a Vaporeon. Matching candies may not be quite as exciting, but it would appear to be more reliable.
It’s important to remember that this is still, by any development standards, a wild success. Pokémon GO, even at #9, is making a huge amount of money, and it’s not like it didn’t make all that money before, either. #9 is a major achievement for any developer.
But that’s only when we compare it to other games out there. On an intuitive level, it’s not hard to see what’s happened here. Pokémon GO could well have stayed at the top of the app chart for much longer, but its shortcomings just proved too much for the vast majority of the player base.
We’re not lost yet, though Niantic and The Pokémon Company may have to wait until next spring to get a genuine shot at this again.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pokemon Go Increased U.S. Activity Levels by 144 Billion Steps in Just 30 Days
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602706/pokemon-go-increased-us-activity-levels-by-144-billion-steps-in-just-30-days/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=owned_social
This gaming craze increases activity levels for players, regardless of their age, sex, or weight.