What is Pokemon Go?

There is a new mobile game taking the world by storm. It is a free app for IOS and Android operating systems called Pokemon Go. This addition to the Pokemon series brings to life the idea of hunting and catching Pokemon. Instead of just playing in a turn based animated world. You get to feel like you are really out catching Pokemon with this  augmented reality style game. It is really pretty amazing how fast the game swept all across the world in just a few short days. Here is some information via wiki:

Upon 24 hours after its release, Pokémon Go topped the American App Store‘s “Top Grossing” and “Free” charts. The game has become the fastest game to top the App Store and Google Play, beating Clash Royale.^[52] Within two days of release, it was installed on more than 5% of Android devices in the United States, according to SimilarWeb.^[53] On July 12, the game became the most active mobile game in the United States ever with 21 million active users, eclipsing Candy Crush Saga‘s peak of 20 million.^[54] The average daily usage of the app on Android devices exceeded Snapchat, Tinder, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.^[55] By July 15, approximately 1.3 million people were playing the game in the Netherlands, despite the app not being officially released in the country.^[56] In the week following the game’s release, Australian servers had problems in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane due to the game’s popularity.^[57]

Investors were buoyed by the response to the initial release of Pokémon Go on July 7, with Nintendo’s share price rising by an initial 10%^[58] and by July 14 shares had risen to as high as 50%.^[59] Despite Nintendo only owning a 33% stake in the Pokémon franchise and will receive only 30% of the Pokémon Go sales revenue, the post-release share price rise amounted to increase in value of approximately $14.5 billion.^[60] Nintendo’s market value increased by US$9 billion within five days of release of Pokémon Go.^[61] The Financial Timesbelieved that investors were speculating not on Pokémon Go as such, but on future Nintendo app releases being as successful as the company moves more into the mobile app market—an area they were historically reluctant to enter in the belief it would damage its portable console sales.^[62] Nintendo plans to release four more smartphone app games by March 2017, and investors remarked thatPokémon Go showed Nintendo still has some of the “most valuable character intellectual property in the world” with franchises such asSuper Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid.^[63] The surge in stocks extended beyond just Nintendo, with First Baking Co., Tomy, TV Tokyo, and Bank of Kyoto all seeing significant to near-record gains.

Photo Courtesy Gamestop

And if that weren’t good enough they are also planning to release the Pokemon Go Plus which is a Bluetooth wearable device. The Bluetooth device pre-order sold out relatively fast. They have already gone from a pre-order price of $34.99 to selling on ebay at over $100. This device will allow people to interact with the game without actually looking at their smart devices. The Pokemon Go Plus will actually be a great addition to this trend hopefully to help with safety issues related to people playing the game and not paying attention to whats around them.

All we ask is that everyone please REMEMBER!