GO Did you expect Pokemon GO to be as successful as it is?

[Almonds]

I thought it would do just okay, not THIS successful. Guess it just proves how good a franchise Pokemon is.

 

[KrisiChiki]

Like many others, I believed this would be just a nice little game for the Pokemon fans. I wasn't even that much interested in it myself....

I'm genuinely happy so see how successful it has become, how it brings people together, and how everyone is talking about Pokemon, like we're back in 2000.

Unfortunately, I can't afford paying for data on my phone so I can't play much (outside areas with WiFi). I still fully support the game, and hope updates and fixes will start rolling out soon. I want more and more and more people to discover the joy of Pokemon!

 

[Fairy Type Arceus]

Hey guys.

I know that I personally didn't expect Pokemon GO to be so successful and popular. All I expected was for it to be a decent game that would have been nice for Pokemon fans. What I didn't expect was seeing it in the news, the newspaper and everyone single person I know talking about it. I presume Niantic didn't expect this either, and that's why they had their server issues. But we now know that GO was a huge success and really worked.

Did you guys see this success coming? And, do you think there is a future for Pokemon in the smart phone/tablet industry?

My preist even mentioned it in a homily its too big. This is the biggest its been since red and blue the second coming of pokemania. damn you masuda you got lucky about the mobile app crap but stop trying to steam line the main series games like they're a mobile app.

While it's good that it's so popular this is going to go just like the originals

1. popular for 3 years give or take
2. Johto mons are released hype is still real but lower then before
3. Hoenn mons are released people complain that there's to many pokemon and get bored with the game
4. Now the casuals are gone and it's down to the hard core fans sinnoh mons released
5. Unova mons people complain that they suck
6. Kalos mons few people come back

Pretty much it's a craze right now and people are jumping the pokemon bandwagon for the first time in 17 years but we all know it won't last ( especially if these damn servers keep going down) for those of us here since the beginning we know this because we experienced it with the main series

 

[Fig]

This isn't as big as the franchise has been since Pokemania.

Pokemania was never this big.

(But I agree it will eventually settle down...though if it takes one-three *years* to get there, Nintendo will make a fortune)

 

[Osprey]

'kay. I need to revise my earlier comment.

I never expected this to become the most popular phone app in history, didn't think it would become so big that every news and talk show channel and station would be yammering about it, and such a phenomenon that it's actually surpassed the Gen 1 craze.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I expected that the app would do at least pretty decent. I wasn't too hyped about the game myself. I thought that it couldn't live up to either the initial trailer or all of the jokes I've seen people make with the game beforehand and while I think that's true, the game exploded with its popularity far beyond my expectations. I did not expect the game to become so insanely popular. Practically everyone is using the game, it's breaking records and I'm sure all of the companies involved with making its are making bank right now. Even with Pokemon being still fairly popular and this being the 20th anniversary of the franchise, I didn't think Pokemon Go would have that much appeal outside of the fanbase.

I've seen signs of places like churches and stores welcoming trainers. I just read a lovely story about how a shelter had a waiting list for people to walk their dogs while they play the game and it was so successful that they're bringing in more dogs for people to walk. I do think that Pokemon Go has some serious problems with its glitches, the game play and some of the choices for Pokestops were not well thought out, such as the Holocaust Museum and cemeteries, but I really love the positive impact it has had on people. I've read about how it has helped people with emotional and mental health problems like depression and social anxiety become more active too. Stuff like that and helping out animal shelters is so wonderful to see and I hope that impact continues after the hype calms down. There is a bit of mixed feelings in there for me as well since I remember when it wasn't cool to like Pokemon and I'm still uncomfortable to talk about Pokemon in public, even with Pokemon Go's popularity, but I try to focus more on the sweet and happy stories about these games.

I'm not sure how long the hype for the game will last. It isn't even available world wide yet and there are a lot of ways the game could be improved upon even before they include more Pokemon, but I do hope that the positive impacts the game has had on people and companies will remain. Pokemon Go itself is decent fun when the game works, but it is the positive effect it has on people and places that really make me happy.

 

[Yoshi1001]

One thing that really impressed me is the "spillover" effect into sales of other Pokemon products. On iTunes, 2.B.A. Master and the first few movies have shot up from their usual positions, and I suspect card sales have seen an uptick as well. Spotify also reported a surge in Pokemon listening (shame the original game soundtrack that was released earlier this year in Japan didn't see a digital release). I've also seen stores start putting up displays of Pokemon merchandise.

 

[King Robert]

I hadn't.