Ten years ago today, Pokemon Go got its worldwide release. And it quickly became a full-on sensation, leading many people to think of 2016 as the Pokemon Go summer. As a lifelong Pokemon fan, I was there from day one, excited about this new game that would let us catch Pokemon “in the real world.” In many ways, that mobile spin-off sparked a resurgence in Pokemon fandom, one that we’re still seeing today. And though it’s changed a lot over the years, Pokemon Go is still arguably one of the most-played games in franchise history.
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When it came out in 2016, it certainly felt like everyone was playing Pokemon Go. From news reports of teens running into parked cars catching Pokemon to neighborhood parks full of people on phones, the game seemed ubiquitous. And the player numbers support that reality, with over 1 billion global downloads to date. This makes it far and above the most-played mobile spin-off in Pokemon history. Although daily active users have no doubt dwindled from its early heyday, the game remains popular. I know I certainly at least check in and catch a few Pokemon every day, and I’m not the only one.
Even if AR Never Quite Took Off, Pokemon Go Changed the Mobile Gaming Landscape
Pokemon Go was hardly the first mobile spin-off for the Pokemon franchise. But Niantic’s augmented reality (AR) model was a unique twist on the mobile game. That novelty, combined with the overarching popularity of the Pokemon franchise, was a recipe for instant success. The game launched to record-breaking revenue of over $207 million and easily became 2016’s most downloaded game. Of course, many users didn’t last through the game’s first year. But even so, Pokemon Go continues to hold steady at around 50 million annual users, something no subsequent Pokemon mobile spin-off has achieved.
Since Pokemon Go arrived on the scene, we’ve seen several attempts to replicate the game’s success. Pokemon itself has put out quite a few new mobile spin-offs since then, including my beloved yet underrated Pokemon Sleep and the more popular Pokemon TCG Pocket. Niantic also put out a few similar AR games based on other major IPs, most notably Monster Hunter Now and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
Only one of these games is still playable today, as Niantic pulled the plug on Wizards Unite back in 2022. Despite Harry Potter’s ongoing popularity, the game never quite managed to achieve the player counts and microtransactions it needed to keep going. I played it throughout its entire run, and I don’t know that I ever spent any real-life dollars on it. That’s something I, sadly, can’t say about Pokemon Go, which routinely gets me on remote Raid passes and extra incubators.
Monster Hunter Now is still going strong enough for Niantic (now owned by Scopely) to keep the lights on. But nothing has quite managed to recapture the magic of combining a game about catching critters with real-world landmarks. Somehow, I don’t think anything ever will. There are few moments in my personal memory quite as magical as the Pokemon Go summer, which in many ways felt like a delightful return to childhood.
Even With Controversial New Features Over the Years, Pokemon Go is Just Plain Fun
Like many Pokemon fans, I started playing Pokemon Go the day it came out. At the time, I lived near a small local park and a few PokeStop landmarks. Every day as I went out on my own Pokemon Go walks, I came into contact with other players. Fellow 20-something Millennials like me, adults playing with their younger kids, and everyone in between. The sense of community was truly unmatched, and I’ve never struck up so many random conversations with strangers before or since.
But at the time, the game was pretty basic compared to what it is now. You could find only a limited number of Pokemon, with some spawns like Dratini so rare they’d cause mass chaos when spotted. Gym battles were there at launch, but Raids, Eggs, Routes, and many other features we now consider standard weren’t introduced until later. I took a brief break from the game at one point a few years in, and the difference between Pokemon Go in 2016 and when I got back into it in earnest a few years ago is staggering.
Not every new feature has been a hit. Routes are still relatively maligned, and many people have stayed away from Party Play, as well. But part of the magic of Pokemon Go is that you can still enjoy the game even if you largely ignore whole chunks of the game. I’m not much of one for PvP and live in a rural area that makes Raids tricky. And yet, I still open the app daily to hatch my eggs and catch a few spawns. During events like Lechonk Community Day, you’ll catch me doing laps in the local park trying to make the most of playing Pokemon Go an hour outside the city.
For all its flaws (and its microtransactions), Pokemon Go still offers something special. It’s still the most popular mobile spin-off in Pokemon history, and it’s really not hard to see why. Though nothing will quite recapture the magic of that first summer, there’s still something beautiful about Pokemon Go and the community we’ve built around it… even if we do all like to complain from time to time.
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