Although it has been five years since the launch of the augmented reality (AR) mobile game “Pokemon Go”, it still attracts a large number of diehard fans to “grab treasure”. The revenue in the past year was even higher than the first year it was launched. What factors keep the popularity of this game alive?
Nikkei reported that Pokemon Go was celebrating its fifth anniversary on the 22nd. According to data analysis company Values, as of June, the game had 3.6 million players in Japan, which is far less than the 11 million when it first launched. But it is still the most popular mobile game in Japan. Such continued high popularity is very rare in the mobile game world, and most games will lose 70% to 80% of the original players in the first week after they are released.
The former editor-in-chief of the video game magazine “Famitsu” Hamamura Hiroichi said that this game makes good use of the characteristics of each popular Pokémon, provides many ways to play, and creates a new game category of GPS positioning games.
This game was developed in cooperation with the American game developer Niantic and the Japanese game maker Nintendo. By slowly adding more than 800 Pokémon in the entire series to the game, it can maintain the player’s long-term collection motivation without spending a lot of money. Having fun, it is also easy to attract a large number of fans.
Having said that, some players are still not hesitating to spend money. According to Sensor Tower statistics, in the year ended June, Pokemon Go global players contributed US$1.4 billion in revenue, which was US$300 million more than the first year it was launched, and even higher than the Japanese game manufacturer Capcom. (Capcom)’s total annual revenue, the total revenue over the five years has exceeded 5 billion U.S. dollars.
Niantic Day’s spokesperson Saito Ka said that everyone can enjoy Pokemon Go in different ways. “Some people can play for hours a day, but some people use it as a recreational pastime while walking. “.