Pokemon GO has 65+ million people playing each month, “new cooperative social gameplay experiences” teased
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 3 Comments
Niantic issued a new “thank you” post on its blog today to highlight some of the awards its mobile game has received. The company also shared a new statistic and teased future plans once again.
According to Niantic, over 65 million people around the world are playing Pokemon GO each month. Niantic says “there’s a lot more to come,” including “all new cooperative social gameplay experiences”. More specifics should be divulged in the months ahead.
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Pokemon GO had around five million daily unique visitors at the end of last year
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 2 Comments
Pokemon GO got off to an incredible start last summer. It essentially became a phenomenon, and had millions upon millions playing each day.
No one expected Pokemon GO to keep up its initial playerbase and revenue stream. Still, by the end of last year, it was still doing fairly well.
As reported by Recode based on comScore data, Pokemon GO was averaging around five million daily unique visitors late last year. That’s a far cry from the initial 28.5 million, but respectable nonetheless.
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Pokemon GO players catch over 589 million Magikarp during Water Festival
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
Pokemon GO wrapped up its Water Festival a couple of days ago. During the week-long event, players collectively caught over 589 million Magikarp, Niantic announced.
The Water Festival made it more likely to encounter Magikarp, Squirtle, Totodile, and their Evolutions. Magikarp, along with its next form Gyarados, were the first ever Shiny Pokemon introduced in Pokemon GO this month.
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Pokemon GO – Shiny Gyarados promo, version 0.59.2 going out on Android
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News, Videos | 1 Comment
If you catch the new Shiny Magikarp in Pokemon GO, you can eventually evolve it into a Shiny Gyarados as well. A video promoting this can be found below.
In other news, Pokemon GO version 0.59.2 is rolling out for Android users to address small bugs. Look for it soon.
More: Niantic, Pokemon GO, title update
Pokemon GO GDC 2017 session recording
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, Videos | 1 Comment
At GDC a few weeks ago, Niantic’s Dennis Hwang hosted a panel relating to Pokemon GO. Hwang touched on “the various UX and visual design choices that were shaped by a focus on real-world gaming, and how they led to a fun and accessible play experience for a diverse set of players across age and gender demographics.”
The full recording for Hwang’s session is now online. You can watch the full talk below.
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Pokemon GO update rolling out (version 1.29.1 / 0.59.1)
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 1 Comment
Update 2 (3/24): Now live on iOS.
Update (3/23): Version 0.59.1 is now live on Android. Not up on iOS just yet.
Original (3/21): Niantic is rolling out another new update for Pokemon GO. Users on iOS should soon have access to version 1.29.1 while Android players will have their game updated to version 0.59.1.
According to Niantic, the 7-day ‘First PokeStop of the Day’ streak will now award a random Evolution item. Minor text fixes have also been implemented.
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Shiny Magikarp, Gyarados found in Pokemon GO
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 3 Comments
Pokemon GO’s new Water Festival began today. Tying into that, it seems that the game is offering something extra special for players.
Tons of reports are emerging of Shiny Magikarp and Shiny Gyarados appearing. We’re trying to obtain more details, but both definitely exist.
Here’s a look at Shiny Magikarp:
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Pokemon GO kicks off Water Festival today
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 2 Comments
A new, limited-time celebration is kicking off in Pokemon GO today. Beginning at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 8 PM in the UK / 9 PM in Europe, players can participate in the Water Festival.
Here’s an overview of the event:
“Get ready to make some waves in Pokémon GO! There’s a global Water Festival in progress, and Magikarp, Squirtle, Totodile, and friends are looking forward to celebrating with you! Starting today at 1 P.M. PDT, you’ll be more likely to encounter Magikarp, Squirtle, Totodile, and their evolutions all around the world. Additionally, when you’re out exploring areas where Water-type Pokemon more commonly appear, you’ll have a greater chance to encounter several of the Water-type Pokémon originally discovered in the Johto region, and maybe… you might even encounter Lapras.
Also, starting later today, you’ll notice a new avatar wardrobe item – the Magikarp Hat!”
The Pokemon GO Water Festival ends on March 29 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM in the UK / 10 PM in Europe.
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Niantic further touches on Pokemon GO’s origins and game’s future
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 3 Comments
At the Animation on Display convention this week, Niantic held a panel for Pokemon GO. It was hosted by David Hollin, the team’s technical artist / designer. Some interesting tidbits were shared about the game’s origins, future plans, and more.
Hollin said that Pokemon GO first began with throwing Pokeballs by pressing a button. Players didn’t have control over how far or curved your throw would be.
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Niantic again talks about wanting to improve gyms in Pokemon GO
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 0 comments
A big priority Niantic has for Pokemon GO is to improve the gym system. Studio CEO John Hanke recently spoke about the need to improve the gameplay, and that’s something senior product manager Tatsuo Nomura discussed with Polygon as well.
Nomura told the site:
“The gym portion [of Pokémon Go] needs a lot more work, and we are trying to improve it and make a bigger change to how the system works. Overall, I think we need a little bit more time to think through how we do it.”
“We needed to define [gyms] in a way that works in a mobile game. For example, we didn’t have … there’s no non-playable characters. That’s not how the game works. We’re an MMO, and we expect people to play with other people.”
“We expected more people to play that portion, and a lot of that is game balancing and just mechanics-wise, there’s some part of that that needs refinement.”
Niantic hasn’t shared a timetable as to when we can expect a new approach to gyms in Pokemon GO. The company does have a few updates planned for 2017 though, so it’s possible that there could be something by the end of the year.
