Unraveling Pokémon Go

Since its release in July, Pokémon GO has instantly become a social phenomenon in various countries. It has surpassed Tinder’s downloads number and Twitter’s daily active users in the USA.[1] The game which features augmented reality updates seems borderless. Its downloaders range from toddlers to adults, regardless of their gender. The game enables making landmarks in real life as parts of the game (Pokéstop and Gym), and even placing Pokémons at random people’s backyards. Claimed to have positive impacts such as forcing gamers to exercise and promoting social connections in real life, the game, unfortunately, is also linked to several cases of accident, injuries, robbery, cases of infidelity, or even dead body discovery.

There is more than just that to be further observed behind the trend.

We had a good childhood and we miss it

                Pokémon GO successfully hits the market by bringing the old plot to this day. The players (especially the ones born in  the ’90s, those who are now in 20s-30s and the major population of netizens) are already familiar with the story. They only need to adapt (or refresh their memory) a little with the game. In fact, the new platform enlarges their curiosity about the game. Old creation has its own charm. Not only people are curious on how old ideas picturized in modern platform, the ‘come back’ also brings nostalgic atmosphere related to the gamers’ childhood. Yes, not all of the players grew up with Pokémon, but the hype about the game is still brought by those who already know who/what Squirtle is, not by generations who were born when smartphone already sells like hot cakes. Playing the game is like restoring the old good memories we had about Ash’s journey collecting Pokémons. We, digital society, are missing the old time when technology had not been this advanced.

Modern lifestyle is (somehow) boring

We, especially the urbans, are living the looping pattern with relatively less mobile activities. Indeed, we go to one place to another, but we lose the sense of ‘adventure’ in doing so, unlike us when our imagination were constantly fueled by cartoons we grew up with. Passive entertainment is also easier to consume, as music can be played in smartphones or movies watched in PC/tablets. Then, we forgot how to have fun with our feet stepping until Niantic, an internal startup at Google, introduced Pokémon GO that offers such fun. We think we catch the Pokémons, but we are actually the ones caught (from our boring life) by the game itself.

Gaming industry is promising

Gaming is one of the major fields for innovative industries. This doesn’t always require sophisticated features to succeed. Astonishing graphic or challenging gameplay doesn’t always prevail, a lesson derived from Flappy Bird’s experience, for example. Game developers only need to be clever enough to create addictive plot for players, something excellently executed by Niantic. Developing games is not an exclusive role run by well established companies anymore, as start ups are skyrocketing — snatching millions of download during short period of time.  Following the success of its precedents, Pokémon GO is another evidence that gaming industry has promising future in digital business.

What’s Next

                We already witness that rebirthing an old trend is a trend itself. The next challenge for the Pokémon GO Company is then to  maintain the instant popularity so it doesn’t turn into an instant trend. For other app developers, this could be a hint for future moves. What’s next? Augmented reality version of Digimon? Pacman? Grand Theft Auto? Or even Batman?

[1] S. Perez, ‘Pokémon Go tops Twitter’s daily users, sees more engagement than Facebook,’ 14 July 2016, , accessed 15 July 2016.