Fellow Reddit user ixAp0c suggests that Pokemon Go is a front for Geospatial Intelligence gathering.
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“We have helped users all around the world have fun, socialize, and get more fit as they play and explore”, Niantic chief executive John Hanke said in a blog post when Pokemon Go was released last week in the US, Australia and New Zealand. There are Microsoft customers who are no longer willing to simply accept being left behind every time – you can read here why Pokemon Go must be released for Windows Phone (hint: it’s not because it’s an awesome game).
Shares in Japan’s Nintendo Co Ltd soared again on Monday, bringing market-value gains to US$7.5bil (RM30bil) in just two days as investors cheered the runaway success of Pokemon GO – its first long-awaited venture in mobile gaming.
The augmented reality mobile game, in which players catch virtual creatures, called Pokemons, in real-life environments and battle other users, has not officially launched in Hong Kong and is therefore not available on the Google Play store or iTunes app store. You can do a transfer of your Pokemon to Professor Elm.
But others cautioned that there were still large question marks over whether Pokemon GO will be able to generate the kind of sustained excitement that would significantly boost Nintendo’s earnings – particularly given that the company now has to contend with a sharp strengthening in the yen. That really says something about the game, doesn’t it?
However, Niantic Labs, the Google spinoff company that created the smash-hit game Pokemon Go, said that it never intended for the game to get full access to users’ Google accounts.
“This makes a lot of sense for brands who are very confident in their product”, Peyton said.
Pokemon Go has had an incredible impact on Nintendo’s market value, but you’d have to look hard to find the Japanese gaming giant’s name in the app itself (it is there, in the “about Pokemon Go” part of the settings).
Erik Hallander, regional mobile and innovation director, Isobar Asia Pacific, however warned against brands jumping in too quickly on the trend for the sake of it.
It goes without saying that the devil’s in the details. As such, Pokemon Go is a textbook example of an augmented reality app. a spectacularly successful augmented reality app that has been producing huge crowds at some of the locations where characters are “placed”.
Like Mazumdar, he added that the buzz will probably “wear off in a few weeks”.
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“I’m going to switch to an S7 edge soon”.
