I did not have to wonder long time in order to choice the most popular mobile game in 2016. Many games tried to reach this title, but from the beginning there was only one winner. Of course, this refers to the new game developed by Niantic Labs, i.e. Pokemon GO. This is the AR (Augmented Reality) which is about walking around the city and catching the famous creatures.
Through the use of augmented reality technology, player equipped in smartphone with gyroscope and camera has the ability to catch Pokémons that appear on the screen. This game uses the well-known GPS technology to determine the location of the player. In addition, camera is used to generate the world of augmented reality. The game is based on the free-to-play model. This means that the player has the opportunity to buy bonuses in the game, such as additional Pokeballs or incubators. However, basement of the game is free and you are not forced to make any micropayments. Besides catching Pokemons, players also visit the so-called PokeStops to collect staff and PokeGyms. The game was released in Australia, New Zealand and the United States on 6th July 2016.
Pokemon GO was so popular that the Niantic Labs servers could not run on optimal speed.
Additional traffic was generated by users from other countries, who downloaded APK file with the game to Android, or logged on to a different location in the AppStore. However, the game was not received well by reviewers. In the end, Pokemon GO does not have eye-catching graphics and mechanics of the game is very simple. The problem was also with locations of PokeStops or PokeGyms. It turns out that these points are located in a places like a remembrance of the victims of 11th September in the United States. This caused several small scandals, but Niantic Labs quickly responded to the report of this type.
Admittedly, the number of active Pokemon GO players constantly decreases.
It happens that players start to get bored because of the monotony of game. However, Niantic is able to attract users back. From time to time they release interesting updates with new content and organize special events. The last one attracted incredible interest in players. Niantic on the occasion of Christmas prepared for Pokemon fans a really nice surprise. The appearance on the streets of a large amount of starter Pokemons and their evolutions. An interesting gift was also Pikachu running with a Santa hat. Moreover, in PokeStops you could find an incubator every day, and the developers have increased the chance of hatching Togepi and other creatures from the second generation. Recently, they released an update, which many players have been waiting an awfully long time. Mentioned Pokemons from second generation have appeared in the game. However, this is only the beginning, because at this moment there are only a few children Pokémon and their evolutions.
