Niantic’s Pokemon GO has been officially available in the United States for under seventy-two hours, yet the free-to-play, mobile, poké-app has already topped iOS charts. Pokemon GO has also managed to surpass every other app on the US market in revenue generation, based on information provided from Sensor Tower (via VentureBeat).
Anyone familiar with the Pokémon series can recall its tagline: “Gotta Catch ’em All!” Pokemon GO, developed by Ingress creators Niantic, emphasizes this aspect of the series in particular. Using GPS and a mobile device’s camera to “augment reality,” Niantic brings the always adorable, sometimes ferocious, pocket-monsters to life in and around players’ neighborhoods.
The game itself is free-to-play, and like most free-to-play games, Pokemon GO features microtransactions that allow players to hasten their progress within the game. These microtransactions have apparently netted great results already, impressing shareholders and boosting Nintendo’s shares by 10%, according to sources at Reuters.
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have been slowly dipping their toes into the mobile world of gaming with several free downloadable Pokémon apps and the social media Miitomo app.
Pokemon GO seems to be an instant success, despite many reported issues of servers going haywire due to floods of players signing it simultaneously. Regardless, the game has just begun, and The Pokemon Company and Niantic still have plans for more content in the future. As Pokemon GO revitalizes the love of collecting and battling for thousands of players worldwide, it’s looking harder and harder to become the very best, like no one ever was.