Pokémon GO is much more than the great comeback of the saga imagined by the Japanese Satoshi Tajiri, still in control. Another era, other technologies and therefore a new concept, that of Urban Gaming, which combines mobile application, augmented reality and geolocation… all the ingredients for immediate global success.
Pokémon fever is back, and this time even seems to be becoming a real social phenomenon. After the 250 million video games sold worldwide since the mid-1990s, manga, animated series, collectible game cards and even the release of an animated feature film in 1999, one would have thought that the phenomenon would slow down. No wonder, the Pokémon adventure is back on track with Satoshi Tajiri’s latest discovery, the creator of the franchise, Pokémon GO, which is based on augmented reality and geolocation.
Pokémon is based on a series of video games called “role” games developed by Japanese video game publisher Nintendo, the principle of which is very simple. The protagonist’s vocation is to cross a world, capture Pokémon (small living creatures of various natures in harmony with humans) through different tactical possibilities and obtain the title of “Pokémon Master”.
In Pokémon GO, while the basic principle remains the same, the player is forced to move physically by means of his mobile phone, which relegates the good old game console to the status of an old school object!
To do this, simply download the application for free on the AppStore or Google Store, and the adventure can begin. The Business Model is based on “integrated purchasing”, which allows players to move faster.
Given the popularity of Pokémon Go, there is no doubt that we have fully entered the era of Urban Gaming, made possible first and foremost by the arrival of smartphones and tablets. Here, we are dealing with a native application, i.e. a “software” directly installed on a smartphone and downloadable from online shops depending on the smartphone’s operating system, and whose development cost is relatively high. But the return on investment should be fast for Niantic, the game’s publisher, who has already pocketed $38 million since the game’s launch.
It is interesting to note that the Fremium Business Model is very lucrative, and now represents 97% of the revenue on the AppStore! Augmented reality refers to computer systems that can superimpose a virtual 2D or 3D model on our natural perception of reality in real time. In fact, the different methods allow virtual objects to be realistically inserted into a sequence of images. Needless to say, this is the cornerstone of the game!
The recipe is very simple and nothing new, but the concept is off the beaten track. Integrated purchases that allow better progress in the game are now a well-regulated practice, as is the principle of geolocation (in this case via Google Maps), which now “equips” many gaming applications on mobile phones. Pokémon Go’s tour de force is to offer anyone a fascinating social experience, as the player is led to evolve in real places (called PokeStops) indicated on a map, while engaging in a real “treasure hunt”.
Best of all, this experience is shared with a host of other live and physical players who share the same goal. Thus, there are many places in the world, sometimes incongruous, where you suddenly see thousands of people running around, portable in their hands, to catch Pokémon. You’re a bitch and oh so good a child!
Niantic will not have had time to rub its hands with this instant global success, which far exceeds its expectations, since it has already had to overcome the first problems of undercapacity of its servers, hence the need to always think very broadly in terms of storage. Remember that the publisher Niantic belonged to Google until 2015…. As with Google, the publisher has developed a cloud platform to host high-capacity servers. It can only be assumed that it uses internally much of the existing infrastructure or at least the same concepts. She is baptized in a way that is not very imaginative.
