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It’s like the late Nineties all over again, as Pokémania is sweeping the globe and encouraging ‘trainers’ of all ages to venture outdoors to catch ’em all.
Pokémon Go is the latest sensation based on the uber-popular Nintendo franchise. It’s is a free-to-play, GPS-based augmented reality mobile game for iOS and Android devices.
In plain language, the game allows players to capture, battle and train virtual monsters that appear throughout the real world as characters on your phone screen.
The simple human nature of loving to find treasures and collect things has ensured that even 20 years on from its initial explosion as a cultural phenomenon, Pokémon fever has once again struck a chord with fans.
Not only are the younger generation hooked on the ‘latest big thing’ on their phones, but those who grew up with these colourful critters are riding a huge nostalgic wave. Within one week of release, Pokémon Go has achieved 21 million downloads in the US alone and rocketed to the top of app charts worldwide.
Many countries are still waiting for an official release, including Bahrain, but tech-savvy users have been able to circumnavigate this by creating app store accounts under the flag of supported countries.
Nintendo say they are delaying their global release schedule to avoid overloading their servers, which are struggling to cope under the huge demand. This seems to have had little effect, with the app crashing and failing to load for most of Saturday shortly after the official UK launch.
The game has already been praised for encouraging people to step out into the real world and exercise while still playing. It uses certain locations – such as parks, restaurants, businesses, and other physical points of interest. They are tagged as landmarks in the game that players need to visit. Once there, players will find items and new Pokémon to capture.
This realistic nature, however, has split opinion amongst the world’s businesses. Some local outlets are suddenly finding themselves swamped with eager gamers coming into their shops to find monsters hiding in their fizzy drinks fridge and trade is booming. However, one fast food chain has put up signs on its doors expressing ‘Pokémon are for paying customers only’ and turning away people not interested in its goods.
Furthermore, there are safety concerns about gamers being so hooked on the game and watching the world via their screen and not their surroundings that they have walked out into busy roads or bumped and tripped into objects on the footpaths. Others have injured themselves over playing by dislocating digits.
Since Pokémon appear in the same place for everyone, there are further concerns that children are at risk gathering together in places off the beaten trail and being lured to dangerous areas by in-game rewards.
The craze shows no signs of slowing down, with shares in Nintendo rising by 50 per cent since release, increasing the value of the company by a massive $15 billion.
Financial analyst David Ingles said: “Nintendo are having their best period in years, and July 11 was their largest jump in shares in a single day since 1983 as Pokémon Go takes over the world.
“With it not even released worldwide yet, it’s only going to get better as the company starts to tap into the mobile market for the first time.”
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Despite not having an official release in Bahrain, the kingdom’s monster-mad Pokémon Go players were not deterred as they trekked around the island to catch more of their favourite creatures.
Unfortunately, server issues hampered the inaugural Pokémon Go Hunt and Meet as more than 30 avid gamers turned up at the Bahrain Museum on Saturday afternoon, only to be disappointed by an unresponsive app.
A Facebook group set up to promote the event initially showed 200 people attending, but many decided not to bother when they saw the game was having issues.
Still, those who showed up were rewarded by meeting like-minded collectors, with the group bonding and sharing in their mutual love of the game with a trip around the museum. Plans are already afoot to reschedule soon when the game’s servers are more stable.
Disappointed Pokémon fan Zayn Al Qahtani said: “It’s such a shame that the servers decided to go down on the one day we’d planned all week for the Pokémon hunt. However, it’s obvious now that the game has built a huge cult following in Bahrain and I can’t wait to go next time!”
