Gotta Catch ‘Em All!
Pokémon GO Has Taken the World by Storm
Posted: July 28, 2016 by No name
By: Sam Skeete
Released on July 6th, Pokémon GO, a free application which brings animated monsters to life through augmented reality, has become the biggest mobile game in U.S. history with over 15 million downloads in under a week. The application taps into years past featuring aspects of Pokémon, Nintendo’s most popular brand. Just in one week, Pokémon GO managed to boost Nintendo’s market value over $7.5 billion, and all the numbers encompassing the game are only rising.
Pokémon GO uses your smartphone’s GPS and Camera functions to help players find and capture characters from the series. The game takes the player out of residential areas into parks and nature preserves to search for elusive monsters so they can battle and trade with other players. When a player finds a Pokémon, the phone camera is used to make the monster appear in the real world. The game also features other incentive to get people out of their cars, and out walking, running, skating, or biking, all with the same goal, to catch them all.
For Las Vegas, this game is the new craze. Children, teens, and adults alike now repopulate and rejuvenate parks and recreational areas, and they’re all looking for Pokémon. Last Sunday, only three days after the game’s release, a meet and greet was held for the game at Sunset Park. The event gathered hundreds of people of varying ages, backgrounds, and locations in the valley. Smaller meet ups also occur every day between both friends and groups of strangers thanks to the game.
All this foot traffic raises questions for the residents of Las Vegas. Both negative and positive aspects arise from the game. Players buried too deep into their phones might not be aware of their surroundings, leading to accidents. Some players also tend to play the game while driving, and even in some cases in other states there have been crimes that used the game to help criminals lure out and mug players at night.
Despite these negatives about the game, the sense of community in Las Vegas is greatly rising. Players now concern for the upkeep of parks and sidewalks, pedestrian walking paths, and other factors that concern walking around in Las Vegas. Some players have taken the initiative to help clean garbage and litter around where they look for Pokémon. With the game comes more support for a faster organized transportation system. The game manages to both players who do and do not play the game with a healthy, active community. Hopefully, this trend will still exist outside of the game.
The application can also be extremely beneficial from a real estate angle. Currently, Niantic Inc., the creators of the application, are planning to work with sponsors to host stops for players at any place of business that is not already a stop. A player stop, known as a Pokéstop, gives players resources to catch Pokémon and are found in high traffic locations. Now, users on forums such as Reddit are looking for work or living locations that have many Pokéstops nearby. With new features imminent, companies can get these players to visit any of their multiple locations, Pokémon GO can be a penultimate decision in the purchase of housing.
1. 1. Source of market information: https://www.engadget.com/2016/07/11/pokemon-go-nintendo-stock-up-value/
3. Source for sponsorship information: http://www.polygon.com/2016/7/13/12171920/pokemon-go-businesses-pokestops-sponsored