Snorlax

World's Most Important Game

FEBURARY 10, 2018

Pokémon GO is one of the most successful mobile games of all time, breaking records like fastest to earn $100 million and most-downloaded in its first month of release. To date, it has grossed almost $2 billion in revenue and been downloaded 800 million times. Although no longer the global phenomenon it was in 2016, the game remains incredibly popular.

I'm one of many people who still plays Pokémon GO. I'm not ashamed to admit being a bit addicted (I just hit level 40). And while some friends mock me for playing a "kid's game", that ridicule is often based on not really understanding why Pokémon GO is so appealing or what makes it special: innovative, award-winning gameplay mechanics that use Augmented Reality (AR) technology -- superimposing computer-generated information over your physical surroundings -- to put virtual creatures at real-world locations.

Pokémon GO is the world's most important game. Thanks to its success, it will almost certainly influence the design of future AR experiences for years to come. But the game could also have a broader impact on society through its potential health benefits. This article covers the science behind five ways the game is good for you.

Pokémon Go Takes The World By Storm

AUGUST 2, 2016

A few weeks ago, if you saw someone wandering around your neighborhood staring at their phone, you might have assumed they were lost. Now, it would not be too much of a stretch to think that they are busy locating, capturing, battling or training fictional creatures called Pokémon. Welcome to Pokémon Go, the free-to-play location-based augmented reality game that has taken the world by storm since its release on July 6. For those that are unfamiliar with the Pokémon brand and wondering what the latest hoopla is all about, here is a brief rundown.

Pokémon first emerged in 1995 as a Nintendo video game. Through the decades, it has grown into a massive franchise, which includes trading card games, animated movies and television shows, toys, and comics. While popular, it was primarily aimed at children and nostalgic adults who played the game when they were young. Ironically, the idea of creating the augmented reality game that has made Pokémon a household name came from an April Fool’s joke.

On April 1, 2014, Google Inc. announced “Pokémon Masters,” an app that would allow people to hunt the monsters using Google Maps. Though just a prank, the ensuing enthusiasm caught the attention of San Francisco-based startup Niantic Labs and its founder, John Hanke. The team, whose first augmented reality mobile app game, Ingress, has been downloaded more than 12 million times, decided to turn Google’s prank into a reality by partnering with Nintendo to create Pokémon Go.

Similar to previous Pokémon games, players travel the world to capture and battle the monsters in their quest to become the greatest Pokémon trainers. However, while the trips in the previous games were imaginary and conducted within the confines of a room, Pokémon Go forces players to get off their chairs and venture outside. That’s because the game uses the phone’s GPS and camera to help players “find” Pokemon in the real world, as well as discover various landmarks or Pokéstops, which offer items and experience points. This could mean finding a Rattata in your backyard, a Pidgey around the block, or a Pokéstop at your favorite neighborhood ice cream parlor.

WHAT WILL COME OF POKÉMON GO?

25 JUL 2016

Instead of taking big screens across the country by storm, this summer’s blockbuster has people glued to much smaller ones.

Launched at the beginning of July by San Francisco-based software development company Niantic, Inc., Pokémon Go has quickly become one of the most popular smartphone apps of all time. Data analytics firm Similar Web reported that in its first week alone, the app had been installed on nearly 11 percent of all android phones in the United States and surpassed Twitter’s daily usage shortly thereafter.

Beyond being a viral sensation, the app’s success has striking implications for a number of industries, according to Willy Shih, the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Management Practice in Business Administration at Harvard Business School, who spent 28 years at IBM, Digital Equipment, Silicon Graphics, Eastman Kodak, and Thomson SA before coming to HBS in 2007. A member of the School’s Technology and Operations Management unit, Shih closely studies disruptive technology and technological strategy and took time to analyze the Pokémon Go phenomenon below.

What does Pokémon Go’s success mean for augmented reality going forward? Is AR the next big thing?

Willy Shih: Microsoft Windows users in the late 80s and early 90s might remember that Microsoft came up with a solitaire game as a way of introducing people to how to use a mouse. I think Pokémon Go is going to have the same effect, albeit unintended, of educating people about augmented reality. It’s a very clever introduction to the technology and beautifully illustrates the merging of the cyber and the physical. We’ve seen other things work similarly before—Google Glass, and heads-up displays in aircraft and high-end cars—but those only caught on in limited ways. Whereas they superimposed information on top of what you were already seeing, Pokémon Go superimposes geospacial information in an integrated way, allowing the game creators to put these monsters in exact locations and in physical spots of significance. That’s really quite different.

If you were in charge, how would you monetize Pokémon Go?

WS: With so many people looking for spots to collect these things, the platform’s ability to pull traffic to particular locations is innovative and completely unique, and represents a huge financial opportunity. It was just announced, for example, that McDonald’s is going to sponsor the game’s rollout in Japan. I imagine it could fundamentally change the face of things like sponsorship and mobile advertising. We haven’t begun to see the most outrageous applications of this yet.

Pokémon Go is Not Dead. It's Helping People.

April 5, 2015

Augmented reality game Pokémon Go has been downloaded more than 800m times, making it one of the most successful examples of location-based media to date. Although its popularity peaked and then plummeted in 2016, it’s still being played by roughly 5m people all over the world on a daily basis – and our research shows it’s making a real difference to their lives.

game blends physical space with digital information, turning players’ smart phone screens into a portal through which they can find and capture Pokémon, train them at gyms and visit PokéStops – all within their everyday environment.

Older forms of location-based media, such as the 2004 game Mogi (where GPS tracking enabled players to collect virtual objects scattered around the streets) failed to withstand the test of time. But Pokémon Go is different. Its visually stimulating and innovative interface gives players a more immersive experience – and this kept them coming back.

We wanted to understand how the game continues to affect these players lives: in particular, we wanted to know whether playing Pokémon Go pushes people to spend more time outside, experiment with different routes through their surroundings or interact socially with other players.

So, between May and July 2017, we set up a 30-minute online survey. It was completed by 375 Pokémon Go users across the globe, primarily from the UK and US but also from Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Canada. In the context of 5m daily players, 375 may sound like a small sample. But the depth and richness of the data provided by these players, and the recurring themes we found across the sample, mean that we were able to extract an accurate set of findings about the motivations and behaviours of people who still play the game