News by Lindsay M.
I don’t even have the game yet (Canada, boo!) but already Pokemon Go has invaded my life. When I wake up in the morning, I open the App Store on my iPhone to search for it — spoiler alert, it hasn’t shown up yet — before I open my news feeds and social media to see if anything has been said about when I can get my grubby hands on the augmented reality game. Repeat this cycle every 20 to 60 minutes for 16 hours. Go to bed. Awaken in the morning and repeat.
Related reading: Matt’s initial impressions on Pokemon Go.
The nice thing about the weekend being over is that there is now actually news on the Pokemon Go front. Every 20 to 60 minutes when I do my routine check (apologies to my bosses, I’m not terribly productive these days) there is something relating to the game to read up on. Sometimes it is a funny story about people meeting, or a compilation of Kijiji/Craigslist ads offering Go players a chauffeur in return for cash (I think that defeat’s the game’s purpose, doesn’t it?), or that terrifying one about a girl finding a dead body while trying to catch ‘em all (Pokemon, that is, not dead bodies). Every now and then, though, there’s a precious drop of something resembling actual news.
Business Insider is reporting that Pokemon Go’s international rollout has been “paused” while Niantic tries to fix their overloaded servers. My hope is that this pause is only short-term, because I cannot take much more of this. I beg of you, international players: do not install the game via any means other than your country’s App Store or Play Store. Not only does that increase the pressure being put on the servers, you’re at risk of malware.
So apart from server issues, what is next for the game that has me wound tighter than a drum? Trading, for one. Pokemon trading is the current big gaping hole in Pokemon Go that people seem to complain about most but expect to see it integrated ASAP. Trading isn’t the only multiplayer aspect that needs work though, and in general I would expect a system for battling friends and strangers alike. Pokestops and gyms will be enhanced to allow for player customization.
There is also a good amount of news relating to Pokemon Go’s statistics. In the United States, over 60% of those who download the app are using it daily, fast approaching the number of people that log into Twitter during a day. Those who play with the app are doing so for almost 43.5 minutes per day (for context, that’s more than Whatsapp, Instagram, and Snapchat). Nintendo’s shares rose 10% when the game initially launched, but that number is now at 25% (their biggest one-day increase since the early 80’s) — impressive considering Nintendo had barely anything to do with the game itself.
Oh, and I nearly forgot: Pokemon Go is currently more popular than Tinder.
That’s right, the nerds now rule the planet and those who feel the need to mate can fade into the woodwork. It’s the end of humanity as we know it.
– Lindsay M.
News Editor
