Pokemon Company CEO & Nintendo thinking of developing a device to play Pokemon GO more safely
Posted on 8 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in Mobile, News | 8 Comments
Tsunakazu Ishihara, CEO of The Pokemon Company, recently sat down with Nikkei for an interview. Other than some general talk about the games industry and Pokemon GO, he had this to say when asked about safety concerns when playing Pokemon GO:
“To avoid the danger, we also released “Pokemon Go Plus,” the smartphone-linked wearable device, so that “Pokemon Go” players do not have to always be looking down at their smartphone screens. Together with Nintendo, we are thinking of developing a new device that can be played more safely. “
Since the interview was originally conducted in Japanese, there’s always the danger of something being lost in translation, but the word “device” being used here is interesting. Pokemon GO Plus is more of an accessory since you still need an actual smartphone to properly play Pokemon GO, but it seems like Ishihara might be talking about a device here that lets you play the game on its own.
Certainly an interesting possibility, but either way, it seems like this mysterious device is still in the planning stages, so we probably won’t get to see it for a while.
Pokemon GO updated to version 1.23.2 / 0.53.2
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 1 Comment
A new update is out now for Pokemon GO. On iOS, the game is being updated to version 1.23.2 while Android users will have version 0.53.2.
Pokemon GO’s update adds support for Korean, as it just launched in South Korea today. Other than that, not much has changed.
More: Niantic, Pokemon GO, title update
There’s some new hints for Gen 2 Pokémon and more in latest Pokémon GO patch data
Posted on 8 years ago by Fernando in Mobile, News | 5 Comments
Dataminers at The Silph Road have found more signs of arriving new Pokémon inside the raw data of Pokémon GO’s most recent patch.
Specifically, there’s some new mentions for evolution items such as King’s Rock, Metal Coat or Upgrade, which can be used to evolve Slowbro into Slowking, Onix into Steelix and Porygon into Porygon2. There’s also the Sun Stone and the Dragon Scale, evolutionary items that are needed to get Bellossom and Kingdra. All of these Generation 2 Pokémon would be ready to obtain in future updates along with Unowns, which have been mentioned explicitly as forms ranging from Unown A to Unown Exclamation Point.
According to The Silph Road, there has been an addition of 38 new moves. This is the first time that Niantic has implemented moves to Pokémon GO if we don’t take into account Ditto’s Transform.
Additionally, they have found more mentions to avatar customization such as belts, glasses and necklaces, more code to support the shiny and gender variations of pokémon and a new system for debugging purposes.
It is expected that Niantic will implement these new features in a future Pokémon GO update.
More: Niantic, Pokemon GO
Pokemon GO update rolling out (version 1.23.1 / 0.53.1)
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 1 Comment
Niantic has prepared a new update for Pokemon GO. Version 1.23.1 (iOS) / 0.53.1 (Android) should be making its way out to users soon.
Pokemon GO’s latest update makes a few small improvements. The patch notes we have are as follows:
Updated Apple Watch to display Eggs obtained from PokéStops
Changed distance tracking to better account for GPS drift
Minor text fixes.
More: Niantic, Pokemon GO, title update
Pokemon GO made over $950 million in 2016
Posted on 8 years ago by Jake in News | 6 Comments
A new report from App Annie suggests that Pokemon GO made over $950 million in revenue in 2016. Since the game launched in July, this was only a six month period, making the number even more impressive. The game was No. 3 in total revenue for 2016, behind Monster Strike and Clash Royale. The full report is over at Venture Beat.
More: Niantic, Pokemon GO
Another 5,000 Starbucks locations in the U.S. are now PokeStops or Gyms in Pokemon GO
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 7 Comments
Pokemon GO’s partnership with Starbucks is being extended further. Another 5,000 locations are now either a PokeStop or Gym.
The partnership between Pokemon GO and Starbucks began back in early December. At the time, there were 7,800 Starbucks being used to promote the mobile game.
More: Niantic, Pokemon GO
China is not allowing Pokémon GO due to safety measures
Posted on 8 years ago by Fernando in Mobile, News | 4 Comments
Niantic’s Pokémon GO never became available in China since its launch last summer and the reason for that is apparently the potential security risks that the Chinese state censor is foreseeing.
According to Reuters, Pokémon GO won’t be licensed in China until the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television evaluates the dangers of the augmented reality game in which players capture fictional creatures in the real world using a smartphone.
And they have reason to worry. Since Pokémon GO came out there has been a lot of news about car crashings, dead body findings and some types of crime related to it. Additionally, the censor is preoccupied about the implementation of Google Maps in order to track a player’s position, which is blocked in China.
When asked about this situation, a representative of Niantic told Kotaku that they are “focused elsewhere at the moment”. So it doesn’t seem like Niantic is obsessed about not being able to implement Pokémon GO in China.
More: China, Niantic, Pokemon GO
Pokemon GO finished 2016 with best week of U.S. revenue since launch
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 4 Comments
Pokemon GO received a massive boost in the United States at the end of 2016. With Niantic promoting the game with a pair of events, it experienced its best single day on December 31 in terms of domestic gross revenue since July 18. Players spent roughly $4.9 million on that day, Sensor Tower reports. The week of December 26 was also Pokemon GO’s highest grossing in the U.S. since mid-July at roughly $22.1 million spent.
The end-of-year holiday events in Pokemon GO performed better than the Halloween and Thanksgiving events. It also outperformed the initial introduction of Gen 2 Pokemon in early December.
As we closed out the week that was 2016, Pokemon GO was the highest grossing app in the United States. It beat out Clash of Clans and Clash Royale during that period.
More: Niantic, Pokemon GO
Pokemon GO was the most downloaded release on the App Store last year, Super Mario Run in top 10
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 1 Comment
Pokemon GO was the most downloaded release on the App Store worldwide in 2016, Apple has announced.
Additionally, Super Mario Run was among last year’s top 10 most downloaded apps. That’s despite the fact that it debuted in December.
Super Mario Run set a record with over 40 million downloads in just four days following its release. The game was the most downloaded app globally on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
More: Pokemon GO, Super Mario Run
Pokemon president gives four reasons for Pokemon GO’s success
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 0 comments
Pokemon GO has been hugely successful since it debuted during the summer. It’s consistently managed to stay at the top of the charts on both iOS and Android.
Speaking with Nikkei, Pokemon president Tsunekazu Ishihara offered up four reasons as to why Pokemon GO has been such a hit. Ishihara first brought up the cross-generational success with seniors in their 50s and 60s who originally bought games for their children, as well as players who experienced the series when they were young. Social media was another factor. Niantic being a unicorn company (start-up with a very high value) and smartphones paving the way for location-based services (GPS) were the final two factors Ishihara brought up.
