Pokèmon Go — In The Future

Nintendo and Niantic within the last week released the wildly popular, geolocation based game, Pokémon Go. Requiring real world movement, the game has done what took the first lady years to accomplish almost over night. Gaining massive traction and giving everyone a second childhood, the game still has a long way of becoming “perfect”. But let’s take a step back and imagine a Pokémon world where businesses and people can interact, while also opening the road for a massive marketing strategy.

What if this is just the start of Nintendo’s mobile world takeover, first starting with a game everyone loves and continuing with advertisements that everyone craves to consume. Did marketers just find the solution to Ad Blockers?

Pokèstops right now are places where people can stop by to pick up Pokèballs, potions, and other goodies to help them make their way through the game. Currently they are local landmarks in your town, such as train stations, parks, and some govt. buildings. But imagine them being Joe’s Coffee Shop, and you can get limited edition items just for walking into Joe’s Coffee Shop. If you order something, you can scan the “PokèCode” on the bottom of the receipt to gain additional equipment, or maybe give your player a “stamina boost”.

Interacting with the real world and businesses can be taken to a whole new level with Pokèmon. What if you found an egg, that when hatched would give you a coupon to your nearest restaurant for a free appetizer.

Opportunities for real world interactions can make the game even more immersive, and who knows, maybe corner stores will become convenience stores to buy elixirs.

Keeping the game enjoyable for everyone won’t be easy, especially with the bottom line influencing Nintendo. The company will have to setup stringent guidelines for their Ad buying customers following their core beliefs and values of keeping the game fun. Annoying Pop Ups and an over saturation in “Limited Edition Wendy’s Clothing” will make the game lose it’s merit.

TL;DR: Nintendo and Niantic make business real life Pokèstops or Gyms. Nintendo charges businesses to be a Pokèstop or Gym. Going to different sponsored stops gives you limited edition items. Profit.