Overnight Success of Pokemon Go Sends Records Tumbling

BENGALURU: It’s here, there, and everywhere! Blink an eye and you’ll miss it! For the past two weeks, the world has been obsessed with Pokémon Go. The Augmented Reality (AR) reincarnation of one of the most popular 90s’ games has already become a global fixation. Though the game is yet to be released in India, you can already see people, both young and old, seeking out Pokémon in the streets. But, one thing is for sure, the Pokémon rage has once again been revived. Insight platforms Qualtrics and SurveyMonkey have released some staggering statistics about Pokémon Go and it’s profound influence on people, reports Tech2.

In just 3 days of its release, Pokémon Go became the biggest game of 2016 with more than 21 million peak active users, says SurveyMonkey. Now, that is some serious statistic if you consider Candy Crush at its peak, had twenty million active users. Pokémon Go has already overtaken Twitter, Tinder, Instagram and even WhatsApp in terms of daily active users on Android. Next up is Google Maps and Snapchat. At this rate, with the game still to be released wholly in Asia, Africa and South America, I wouldn’t bet against Pokémon Go becoming the most popular app ever.

One of the major reasons behind Pokémon Go’s success is that it has a novel idea at its core. In order to catch a Pokémon or refill the inventory list, a user must proceed to the given nearby locations or “Pokéstops”. According to Qualtrics, about 43 percent of players in the U.S. have reported an average weight loss of 1.45 kgs since they began playing the game. Apart from making players fitter, the game has taken children out from the solitary confinement within those four walls of their homes, to interact more with the surroundings.

Then again, the game has certain side effects too. Qualtrics reports that about 85 percent of users play the game while driving out of which 4 percent have been pulled over by the police. In addition, almost 10 percent of the players reported to have trespassed for catching Pokémon. Statistics never lie and for Pokémon Go: this is just the beginning.

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