Pokémon GO is the very popular game now and it has already crashed many records! The game went viral in the US, Australia, New Zealand and it is now very famous. The game is launched only in select countries but the craze for the game is so high that people are downloading its APK file to run the game on their mobile phone! This overwhelming response from users is so crazy that the makers of Pokémon GO is experiencing problems and their servers are already overloaded! In this post, we are going to see how this game became an overnight success and why people are going crazy to catch ‘em all! Have a look!
John Hanke, creator of Pokémon GO game stated that the game is not an overnight success! It took him 20 years to make this game so popular! John Hanke started his game development in the year 1996 when he was a student. He co-created an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) called ‘Meridian 59’. It all started in 1996 and he never looked back. His interest and aim were to create a map based game where many people can play! The concept is quite nice! The Pokémon GO did it perfectly and people are now actually going out to catch their Pokémon’s! Isn’t it interesting?
This week, the Pokémon Go app has broken all records, with 10 million+ downloads in the first week, exceeding Twitter in daily active users, and with higher average user time than Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram & WhatsApp. You will be amazed to know that the Pokémon Go is making around $2 million daily with in-app purchases! Yes, you heard it right. This game is only available in few countries still it reached the level of success within a week!
John Hanke after 1996 worked in many similar projects. He was in the team of Google Maps and created street view and maps! During this journey, he acquired all the knowledge to create a crazy game.
In the year 2010, John Hanke with the help of Google started up a company called Niantic Inc. to create games which will be layered on maps. John explains why he called his start-up as Niantic:
The Niantic is the name of a whaling ship that came up during the gold rush and through a variety of circumstances got dragged on shore. This happened with other ships, too. Over the years, San Francisco was basically just built over these ships. You could stand on top of them now, and you wouldn’t know it. So it’s this idea that there’s stuff about the world that’s really cool but even though it’s on the Internet, it’s hard to know when you’re actually there.
In 2014 if you remember, Google and the Pokémon Company teamed up for an April Fools’ Day joke, which allowed viewers to find Pokémon creatures on Google maps. It was a viral hit and got John thinking the idea could be turned into a real game. He started to create the game and raised $25 million from Google, Nintendo, the Pokémon Company, and other investors from Dec 2015 to Feb 2016.
John and his team launched Pokémon Go on July 6th in USA, Australia, and New Zealand. Since its launch, Nintendo’s share price has risen $7.5 billion, and the app is already generating over $2 million daily in in-app purchases, making it an overnight phenomenon. John doesn’t know what will be the future of this game. The game is still under development and it may have many surprises in near future. Niantic is planning to release this game all over the world as soon as possible!
So it’s not an overnight success! It took 20 years to achieve this stage! He deserves it!
Also Read: How much Candy Crush earns daily?
The story is interesting, isn’t it? If you play Pokémon Go and find this cool, please share this with your friends! Have a nice time! Catch ‘em all!
