How Pokémon GO’s “Mistake” Became Its Strength
The AR app has already changed the mobile gaming landscape
Written with contributions from Flourish Klink and Sascha Hecks.
Only a week after Pokémon GO’s release, it had all but conquered the mobile gaming landscape. It’s the biggest US mobile game of all time, having surpassed Twitter (and Tinder) in daily active users. Current estimates suggest that the game still sits above 20 million daily active users in the US, despite having already peaked. Pokémon GO players are more engaged than Facebook’s users, spending more time per day in the app. The Hillary Clinton campaign is even using the app to register young voters.
Now that some of the newness has worn off, Pokémon GO is facing almost inevitable backlash. Players are leaving one-star reviews on the app, complaining about the lack of a Pokémon tracker or endgame content. But at this point, the backlash hardly matters. Pokémon GO has already changed the mobile gaming landscape by making augmented reality games mainstream, and it succeeded because of its IP, its accessibility, word of mouth, and its blend of mobile game and real-life adventure.
Pokémon GO’s viral success happened despite a buggy, crash-prone app with unreliable servers and minimal instruction on game mechanics. One might even say it proliferated in spite of itself, mostly due to its nostalgic IP. Pokémon GO tapped into the childhood dream of every person who grew up with Pokémon. For the last twenty years, children played at catching Pokémon with their friends; now, the imaginary Pokémon-catching that happened on almost every playground is a reality for anyone with a smartphone. And, like imagination games, Pokémon GO has a low barrier of entry; the app is free, with optional microtransactions.
Pokémon GO tapped into the childhood dream of every person who grew up with Pokémon.
The nostalgia and familiarity of Pokémon combined with this low barrier of entry (92% of 18–34 year olds, this app’s target audience, own a smartphone) made for an irresistible combination of ubiquity and liveness. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the app, everyone was trying to figure out where to catch the best Pokémon, and everyone had a Pokémon story, almost overnight. No one who saw this conversation wanted to be left out — if they had any connection to Pokémon at all, they wanted to go on a “Pokémon journey” too.
Pokémon GO actually benefitted from having no in-game social features, forcing its players to take to social media or even real life (!) to talk about the game. Apps like GoChat and Razer Go attempt to rectify this “problem” by adding chat functionality, but for Pokémon GO the lack of built-in chat is a boon. People who want to share the Pokémon they’ve encountered or stories of meeting other players irl have no choice but to do so on social media, generating free word-of-mouth advertising.
Pokémon GO actually benefitted from having no in-game social features.
On top of that, every player wandering around outside, brow furrowed in concentration as they swipe their fingers across their phone screen to toss Pokéballs, is also a walking advertisement. These Pokémon GO players are, more often than not, happy to tell curious onlookers exactly what they are doing. Players who find themselves enjoying time spent outdoors then start to be more adventurous in their Pokémon hunt… which only serves to generate more buzz.
Niantic Inc., which developed Pokémon GO, is no stranger to AR apps; its last success was Ingress, which prompted people to choose one of two factions and claim “portals” at real-life landmarks. For Pokémon GO, Niantic took full advantage of extensive mapping to diversify game experiences. Niantic used Ingress data to figure out where to place Pokéstops and gyms, and took geography into account when spawning Pokémon regionally. Water-type Pokémon primarily spawn near bodies of water, for example.
Niantic took full advantage of extensive mapping to diversify game experiences.
There is no one complete Pokémon GO experience; players are forced to wander to diversify their collection, or, when trading is implemented, to coordinate with their friends. Even though there is clear room for improvement (players in rural areas often report a dearth of Pokémon), Niantic stumbled on a winning formula, at least for a little while.
Niantic recently lost some player trust by removing features like tracking and not communicating with the player base. But upon launch, Pokémon GO found the perfect combination of features: a beloved IP, a low barrier of entry, a sense of liveness aided by no in-game social, and an experience that varies depending on where the user is. It is this magnetic combination that has people in countries where it hasn’t been released, like China, still clamoring for it. Despite no official release in China, the hashtag #PokemonGo has been used over 330 million times on Sina Weibo, with users sharing tips on how to access the game on third-party software and virtual private networks (VPNs).
Pokémon GO found the perfect combination of features.
Other mobile app developers, in examining Pokémon GO’s success, should note that it’s not just AR that makes the game work. Niantic secured Pokémon, a beloved IP, then brought every Pokémon fan’s dream to life. They made that dream as accessible as possible, encouraging players to view the world around them through a new lens, and knowing that players would share their Pokémon journeys as they strive to be the very best (like no one ever was).
