I found Pokemon GO, yes that game ; very familiar

I’m sure everyone’s timelines are filled with how Pokemon GO is becoming the online rage it is, it’s achieved a mean feat no doubt, 10 million+ downloads in under a week. People are using it more than Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Tinder and what not. People are coming back to the game more often than any other app, user engagement is at an all time high.

John Hanke, the CEO of Pokemon GO says the overnight success actually took years in the making, 20 to be exact. I read a facebook post behind his story that prompted me to write this piece, John started off way back mapping the world, he built Keyhole which Google acquired way back in 2004, which is now Google Earth.

I came across this brilliant game called “Ingress” which was the brainchild of Google’s Niantic Labs, which was John’s startup funded by Google. I still remember playing Ingress, still have it on my phone, it was a brilliant game and it was something very different, the premise was unique, you had to join a team “The Resistance” or “The Enlightened” and save the world from an unknown force by interacting with portals and real life objects. Back then there weren't many people playing Ingress, at least in my neighborhood. The game has evolved big time and is super addictive. You could live chat on the app with your team and hack into other portals . Here is the trailer of Ingress, its super cool!

When I played Pokemon GO, i had a sense of Déjà vu in certain aspects, because I had played something similar (Ingress) and i had played it for a very long time. Was surprised to find out that John and Co. had been behind it all along. Google played an April Fool’s day prank with Pokemon on Google Maps, it turned out to be an instant hit ; Ingress+(the idea of pokemon on maps) = Pokemon GO. Kudos to John and team for giving us Pokemon GO.

While playing Pokemon Go you will realize the Poke Gyms and Poke stops are frequently visited locations near you, well that’s just because these were user generated meeting points from Ingress. A shout out to all those Ingress users who have helped in a big way in improving Pokemon GO, without realizing it.

Many of you are waiting to download the app, or have already started playing, get your hands on Ingress meanwhile for some nostalgia after all everybody is busy catching ’em all!