Nearly everyone has heard something about Pokémon Go. Whether you’re already playing it (and most likely addicted to it by now), you’ve seen others running around with their eyes glued to their phones while playing it, or you’ve heard about freakish accidents happening while people play. Whatever the case may be, Niantic, the creator of Pokémon Go and a San Francisco based start-up, has quite a bit to be proud of considering it added $7.5 billion to Nintendo’s market value in 2 days!
So how is an accomplishment of this scale even possible? One reason why Pokémon Go is so widely successful is because the game has been 20 years in the making. I can remember back to the glory days of first grade and trading Pokémon cards with my fellow classmates during recess. Although that was about 20 years ago, Pokémon has held a presence across the world for two decades.
Secondly, Pokémon Go’s business model is based on micro-transactions. The app is free to download and play but as you go along you have the option to pay for items that will help you succeed. Not only are micro-transactions at the core of mobile gaming, they also provide an extremely lucrative business for investors.
Lastly, Pokémon Go has access to its players’ personal information like location and movement. And what can all this information do? Well, it can be sold to advertisers and marketers so that they can gain consumer insight and knowledge about mobile gaming customers.
So far the app has been released in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and twenty-six European nations, with launches anticipated in other countries very soon. It’s hard to say how long this app will be popular or what its future has in store, but for the time being, Pokémon Go is doing a reshaping of the mobile gaming culture. We can’t wait for the next surprise that launches off this phenomenon.
Have you played Pokémon Go yet? Tweet @StarterNoise using #PokémonGo to let us know!
Katherine is a newbie to Denver. She recently completed her Masters in Peace and Justice Studies at the University of San Diego. When she isn’t trying to save the world, Katherine is all about trying any and all delicious foods, hitting up the beach but not actually swimming (deathly afraid of sharks), and taking as many hikes as humanly possible.