Hi. My name is Adam and I am about to write yet another Pokémon Go article. Yes, I know, the internet (and very possibly your office, neighborhood or campus) has been filled with nothing but talk of Pikachu and friends for the past few days, but there are some important nuggets of information you may have missed among the melee of memes and social media posts from Poke-evangelists and denouncers alike.
Whenever something captures the zeitgeist, for no matter how brief a time, we have to take a step back and ask a few questions. What is Pokémon Go, anyway? For the uninitiated, Pokémon Go takes the wildly popular video game/trading card/cartoon franchise that debuted in Japan some 20 years ago, and puts them, for the first time ever, on your cell phone. Though this may seem like an insignificant bullet point that a marketing person may throw at the end of a list of the game’s features, it’s anything but. You see, Pokémon games were only available on Nintendo’s Game Boy and DS handheld platforms until this point, which limited their reach greatly. We all have cell phones, though. With this nearly universal availability and a healthy dose of nostalgia from adults who grew up with these recognizable (and cute…there, I said it) characters, it’s pretty easy to see how this game had the potential to be huge.
But it’s not just the nostalgia and proliferation of cell phones that has made this game catch the hearts and minds (or hate and chagrin) of your entire Facebook feed. This game, whether you like it or not, has done some interesting things in the tech that are baked right into your phone. Though the traditional Pokémon games would have you controlling a two-dimensional avatar on a virtual quest to capture, train and eventually beat the best Pokémon trainers in the fictional world presented therein, Pokémon Go provides a much more pared down version of that experience, removing the battle mechanics to instead focus on the collecting and upgrading (called evolving) of Pokémon. Only, you’re not navigating a character on a screen with the press of a directional pad — no, sir — you have to get your butt out of that loveseat and start kicking rocks in real life, searching your surroundings for Pokémon, using an accurate (albeit cartoonish) map pulled using your phone’s GPS technology. Once engaged in an attempt to capture a Pokémon, your phone allows you to actually see the little monster sitting on the sidewalk, flying above your backyard pool or sitting precariously close to your dog. Of course, there is not an actual Pokémon sitting there, but what’s called augmented reality (AR) allows it to appear that way by utilizing your phone’s camera and a bit of positional awareness.
Neither AR nor GPS is anything new — in fact, mobile games have toyed with these features for a few years now. However, none have had the power of nostalgia and brand recognition to back up the concepts they touted.
POKÉMON GO
Though it may seem like a gigantic waste of time to go wandering around your neighborhood or local park in search of imaginary creatures, the Pokémon Go craze has yielded some surprisingly positive wins.
- As for profit, one firm estimates that as of July 11, 2016, the game (which is free to download, by the way) rakes in $1.6 million a day — that’s in the U.S. alone. Pokémon Go has been credited with boosting Nintendo’s stock price by about 25 percent.
- Due to the scavenger hunt style of the game, people are finding game assets (Pokémon, Pokéstops and Pokémon Gyms) in places of business, which have actually led some to see an increases in customers.
- Believe it or not, Pokémon Go has caused people to, well, get up and go. It gamifies walking and physical activity, which can be a major motivator for those of us that find exercise a fate worse than death.
- Communities, clubs and meetups have formed in the days since Pokémon Go’s launch, leading to more interaction with real people, all united in the search for fake monsters. Almost ironic, I know.
POKÉMON NO
What’s the catch, you ask? Unfortunately, nothing is perfect, and the launch of Pokémon Go was a bit rocky. Plagued with frequent server issues and a rather svelte offering of in-game content, even those most excited for its release may have had a few setbacks on their Pokémon hunt. However, there are a few, much larger issues beyond the mechanics of the game itself.
- An obvious downside to encouraging people (especially kids) to go outside and explore is, well, the danger inherent with going outside. Sure, that sounds like something a complete shut-in would say, but the fact is, one group of kids stumbled upon a body and a number of people were robbed while playing Pokémon Go.
- It nearly goes without saying, but people do NOT need another reason to pay more attention to their phones than the road. Pokémon Go’s real-time maps could tempt some to drive while playing the game, putting pedestrians and fellow motorists at risk.
- This is the big one: security. Though Niantic, the company behind the game, recently updated and clarified a major concern for Google users, any game that tracks your location via GPS can give even the most tinfoil hat averse of us a bit of the heebie jeebies.
POCKET {MARKETING} MONSTERS
From a business and marketing perspective, we can pull a few thoughts from Pokémon Go’s pros and cons.
- Branding and brand recognition are major players in success. Though other games utilized similar technology in the past, Pokémon is an instantly recognizable, beloved and trusted brand that is deeply rooted in the hearts of twenty-and-thirty somethings’ nostalgia, yet still has the cartoony cuteness that gets the attention of today’s kids, which brings me to…
- Knowing your audience is paramount. I could not think of a better time to release this game upon my generation. For clarification, I’m in my late 20s, which means I had a blue binder filled to the brim with Pokémon trading cards and a stable of high-level Pokémon saved onto a Game Boy cartridge that spent much oh-so-much time in my big, grey handheld that I so often “borrowed” from my older brother. Though I haven’t touched a proper Pokémon game in at least seven years, I still have a soft spot for Pikachu and friends and, I have to say, it’s nice to see them again. But it’s not just old timers like myself that have gotten the Pokémania (no, I did not coin that phrase, nor do I like it). Pokémon’s appeal never really went away, as it’s still a flourishing video game franchise that continued evolving to appeal newer generations after mine began to age out of it.
- Go to your customers instead of making them come to you. Nearly everyone, and I mean everyone, has the hardware needed to run this game. There is no “buy in” for it, meaning, you don’t have to go out and buy a new Nintendo 3DS or WiiU. The game isn’t limited to iOS or locked away on the Google Play store. Pokémon Go is available everywhere and for free. If it were any easier to get, it would come pre-installed like that U2 album everyone got unreasonably angry at a while back.
Will Pokémon Go last? That all depends on what Naintic and company do from here. If they continue to support the game with additional content, a healthy dose of respect for the Pokémon brand and sound strategies that speak to their fans, there’s a good chance this mobile Pokémon renaissance is just getting started.