From McDonald’s sponsorship to public events, here’s our breakdown of the future of the popular app which has proved a phenomenon
Unless you’ve been living in a cave on one of Jupiter’s moons for the past few months, you will have heard of the phenomenal popularity of Pokémon GO.
For the uninterested – and any space-dwellers – Pokémon GO is an augmented reality app where players hunt in real world locations for the game’s little critters, aiming to catch ’em all.
While the tremendous effect Pokémon GO has had already is fascinating in its own right, we’re more interested in the future.
Where will the game go from here? How will it affect the industry? And does it have the potential to carve out a space in competitive gaming?
Legendary Events and Mythical Mysteries
As it stands, Pokémon GO players can’t actually quite catch ’em all. Not for a lack of trying – some gamers in Bosnia have been told to stop looking for Pokémon in minefields.
The three legendary birds, Articuno, Moltres and Zapdos have always been super rare in the franchise. So too have Mew and its sinister genetically engineered clone, Mewtwo.
However, they do all exist in the game’s code, and the former trio are symbols of the game’s three teams.
One notable absence, though is Ditto, a Pokemon who according to various popular fan theories is a failed clone of Mew.
There have been all sorts of theories floating around regarding when and how the legendries will be introduced.
One is that they’ll be part of a live public event. Niantic founder John Hanke has already said new Pokémon will be introduced in special events around the world, so this could be your ticket to catching one.
We even saw in the reveal trailer a huge crowd of people in Times Square battling Mewtwo. Niantic are obviously planning shared social stories, told through live events that include these elusive beasts.
The company organised similar events for its previous augmented reality game, Ingress.
There have been sporadic reports, however, of legendary bird sightings, such as Articuno at a Pokémon gym in Ohio earlier this week. One user’s claim that Niantic had gifted them the Articuno was met with scepticism.
But if Niantic are deliberately using confusion to increase the hype, it’s certainly effective. Let’s just hope nobody hurts themselves in their confusion.
Competitive Play in Pokémon GO
Intriguingly, Hanke hinted that only 10 per cent of Pokémon GO’s planned content has actually been released. So could competitive play still be introduced?
There’s a lot of potential for pvp gameplay – in fact it’s surely the logical next step, given the franchise’s past games and the massive popularity of competitive gaming.
Creative fans are already coming up with ways to make the game competitive.
At an upcoming Hearthstone tournament, there will be a competition in which players catch Pokémon around the venue, with cash prizes for the winners.
This is particularly interesting, as Hanke was caught mentioning that sponsoring self-organised events was a possibility.
Clearly there is demand, and Niantic will surely be considering the money to be made from eSports.
Could we all be going to stadiums to watch the world’s top trainers battle it out to be the very best, like no-one ever was? Come on, it sounds right.
The Pokémon Company already organises competitive leagues and tournaments for other Pokémon games, and there is a pre-existing – albeit small – eSports community.
Imagine how this could explode with Pokémon GO.
It’s also interesting to note that hidden stats have been found relating to each Pokémon and their attributes.
The discovery was made through vigorous data mining by reddit user _isitin_ and various others, who uncovered defence, base attack and stamina stats for all 151 Pokémon, including the legendries.
Further discoveries were made, such as the presence of individual values (IVs), which is an unseen stat present in the main Pokémon series.
These hidden mechanisms provide further proof of future competitive play in Pokémon GO and feeds hope to fans that the game will be just as complex as the main series.
It’s those intricacies that gave birth to existing Major tournaments for other games in the franchise, like the Pokémon World Championship.
There’s so much potential for Pokémon GO in eSports. The fruit is hanging so low, even a Diglett could reach it.
A Black PokeMarket?
Hanke has also assured fans that trading will be introduced at some point in the future. This raises yet more interesting questions.
Firstly, how will it work? Presumably you will be able to trade Pokémon with other trainers, but what about items? Will more be introduced?
Customisable Pokestops have already been announced.
And where there’s a market, there’s a black market. We recently covered the issues with CS:GO skin betting, which involved players trading in and betting with skins for cash.
Given its immense popularity, could a secondary market emerge for Pokémon GO?
If so, there will be plenty of shady companies out there happy to exploit it, not least Team Rocket.
Niantic will have to tread carefully, especially given Pokémon’s child-friendly image.
With this in mind, it might be prudent to draw up some regulations.
It won’t only help prevent ‘creative’ ways to get rich quick.
It could also help fend off opportunistic politicians looking for the motherlode of PR wins, pushing through legislation that restricts certain game features.
Crusades by politicians and the media against video games are especially prevalent in the US, putting Pokémon GO in real danger, far more than Valve with the skin betting fiasco, of falling into a deep moral and legal pit.
Why? The nature of the game, along with its high profile.
Hanke mentioned in an interview, “The deal with real world games was to build an advertising model that is deeply tied to the way the game works.”
It has already partnered up with McDonalds, and over 3000 of the fast food establishments are now also Pokémon gyms.
Maybe being at both a McDonalds and a gym at the same time will make you feel less guilty?
It’s a good business model, and will help alleviate the pressure from squeezing the in-app purchases.
However, it also opens a whole new can of worms. The game can essentially influence the movement of people and increase sales for any company partners.
Should this information be disclosed? Augmented reality is a grey area at the moment, but it will need to be considered.
As recent industry scandals have shown, there needs some regulation, rooted in law, to deal with disclosure and advertising.
Still, there’s plenty of fascinating things already happening in the world of Pokémon GO.
From the real world of commercial benefits for small businesses, to Oliver Stone denouncing it as a conspiracy to bring forward totalitarianism.
Yikes.
I for one welcome our new corporate overlords, just so long as they can do something about London’s Rattata and Pidgey infestation.
