There's no escaping Pokémon GO. No matter where you look, people are playing, writing or talking about Nintendo and Niantic's mobile game phenomenon.
It's taken the United States by storm, soaring to the top of the iOS and Android app charts and reportedly, has already earned more than $14 million dollars. Coverage of the gaming event has only gotten stranger in the week since the game's official launch.
First came all the news coverage and hot takes via online publications. It seemed like nearly every website was covering (and still is covering) the game nonstop. News came that Pokémon GO app downloads had surpassed Tindr. News also came that Pokémon GO was being searched online more than porn. News about issues with the game and upcoming features that will be added also surfaced. News came of criminals using the game as a means to rob players. News of businesses and other landmarks unhappy with the flocks of players appearing on their doorstep also arrived. News of businesses using Pokémon GO as a marketing tool was also revealed.
The game, quite literally, in fact, is everywhere. Online news coverage was just the start. Although it might have missed the ball at first, the mainstream news media slowly but surely began to catch on to the crazy. Pokémon mascot Pikachu adorns the front page of the July 12 edition of USA Today in honor of the game's popularity, while CBS News aired a bizarre, out-of-touch (and actually kind of terrifying) segment about the game Monday night.
Soon enough, the U.S. Marines were tweeting about Pokémon GO. Yes, the Marines, the battle-hardened American fighting force. Sure, there's nothing that says the U.S. Marines Twitter account can't make jokes, but that doesn't change the fact at how absolutely strange it is to see one game cause so much commotion.
Get off the firing line, Pikachu! That's a safety violation! pic.twitter.com/WilmXFBHlf
— U.S. Marines (@USMC) July 11, 2016
What was the last game to capture this kind of attention? Maybe fellow free-to-play mobile game Flappy Bird? Flappy Bird certainly caused a stir when it released, and its popularity burned out almost as soon as it appeared. Pokémon GO has been available in the U.S. for barely a week, and thus far, it's showing no signs of slowing down. It's worth noting that the game isn't even available in Japan or Europe yet, thanks to its U.S. popularity crippling Niantic's servers. The game is sure to be a hit in Japan and Europe as well, and no doubt, the entire craze will begin anew once it does finally arrive.
This is all to say that Pokémon fever isn't going to vanish anytime soon. The game franchise has been around for more than two decades, after all. It has endured, and Pokémon GO will, too. With Niantic's promise to deliver regular updates to Pokémon GO in the weeks, months and years to come, it definitely sounds like fans will be playing it for the long haul. Sure, popularity will diminish somewhat, as casual players and curious Pokémon first-timers grow tired of the admittedly repetitive game. However, there will no doubt be millions who play the game regularly, and the entire world is going to have to come to terms with it.
