'Pokémon Go' Now Considered 'The Biggest Mobile Game in U.S. History'

When i was a kid the greatest games, were metal gear solid, final fantasy 7 etc. now we have ...... pokemon

Um, Pokemon came out around the same time as FF7. Certainly you know that?
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It's a fad. Nothing revolutionary. We've seen this happen over and over again. The Wii U was the most popular console, and then it died. Flappy Bird was the most popular game, then it died. Candy Crush was the most popular, then it died. See a pattern?

Not in history, no. The PS2 sold way more than the Wii. And last I heard, CC is still printing money.
 
I would have thought so too, as I've never even heard of slither.io... But my guess is that Angry Birds peaked too early (circa 2010/2011). The mobile market has increased dramatically (10x?) since then.

Good point. That would explain the absence of Cut the Rope (2010) as well.
 
What's sad about this....


Sure people are getting out, but they still aren't experiencing the outdoors with their noses stuck in their phones.

My kids play tons of games on the computer and xbox, but they also get out daily. We go scootering around the neighborhood or down to the school to shoot hoops.

My wife had a softball game last night and there was an extra 50-60 people at the ballpark. Were they being active? No, they were standing in packs staring at their phones because someone had dropped a couple of lures. The crappy part, there was almost no parking at all because they all drove there.
 
Um, Pokemon came out around the same time as FF7. Certainly you know that?
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Not in history, no. The PS2 sold way more than the Wii. And last I heard, CC is still printing money.

yea but it wasn't the biggest selling game in history back then was it?

Come to think of it, i remember pokemon on the game boy was popular, but who knows, i doubt the popularity of this game will last
 
Am I the only one surprised that Angry Birds isn't on this (albeit short) list of hugely successful mobile games? They made a freakin' MOVIE out of it. Surely it was bigger than Slither.io. Admittedly I don't follow mobile gaming religiously, so if I'm missing something obvious, let me know nicely.
Angry Birds is not at all a "live" game. Their first few successful Angry Birds app didn't have any live multiplayer option. I'm sure Rovio had a way to track players, but it's not the same category as the other apps listed, which all allow you to interact real-time with people across the globe.
 
Angry Birds is not at all a "live" game. Their first few successful Angry Birds app didn't have any live multiplayer option. I'm sure Rovio had a way to track players, but it's not the same category as the other apps listed, which all allow you to interact real-time with people across the globe.

But this article isn't about any particular category of games... a "live" component isn't necessary. It's the top mobile games of all time. Period.
 
When i was a kid the greatest games, were metal gear solid, final fantasy 7 etc. now we have ...... pokemon
Then when you were a kid, pokemon was also a thing. VII was released in 97, Pokemon in 98 in the US. And Pokemon was a hit from the beginning.
Nowadays we still have Pokemon, still Final Fantasy, and countless other really liked games.

So now, is nostalgia talking, or are you just not considering pokemon to be for "grown up" and thus unworthy of you love ?
 
This is proof that Nintendo should ditch hardware and go software only, make mobile and console (PS4, XBOne) games instead of trying to release there new game console that is going to fail worse than the Wii U.
 
Well, if you've seen the hype (and maybe have been involved in it) with Ingress and combine that with Pokémon it's easy to see why this is so successful.

Glassed Silver:mac

Agreed
This exactly
Seriously tho congrats to Nintendo, Niantic, and The Pokemon Company
#NotSurprised
 
I don't know what a Pokemon is, and am very confused. How did I miss this as a child?
The first Pokemon game was released 20 years ago. If you or your younger siblings were at all into games back then, chances are that you know what Pokemon.
 
Anecdotally, this game is huge. I live in an approximately 1 million pop. midwestern city. My son is playing the game. We had some time to kill before a doctor appt. so I suggested we check out a local MetroPark to see if there was any Pokemon action there. It was 90ºF. Normally, no one is in this park at this time of day and those temps.

All the parking lots were full and we saw hundreds of kids through young adults playing. There were a few Pokestops, gyms and lures in the park. My son grabbed a few "rare" Pokemon just driving around the park. I drove past a couple of cars awkwardly pulled off to the side of the road trying to grab one of the more "rare" Pokemon.

Early-adopters are considered cautiously here. This game is big.
 
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It's a fad. Nothing revolutionary. We've seen this happen over and over again. The Wii U was the most popular console, and then it died. Flappy Bird was the most popular game, then it died. Candy Crush was the most popular, then it died. See a pattern?
Pokémon on Nintendo's handheld consoles has been popular since it came out in 1998.
[doublepost=1468460478][/doublepost]I hope it's still popular when I go back to school. Everyone here says they've seen tons of people playing it, but I haven't seen a single person walking around here, so it wouldn't be fun. I guess my neighborhood just sucks.
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This is proof that Nintendo should ditch hardware and go software only, make mobile and console (PS4, XBOne) games instead of trying to release there new game console that is going to fail worse than the Wii U.
Hardware makes them loads of money.
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So now, is nostalgia talking, or are you just not considering pokemon to be for "grown up" and thus unworthy of you love ?
Well... there's no strategy in it. I played Silver all the way through in 7th grade then got bored trying to get through Yellow. After a while, you kinda get sick of fighting Youngster Pauls and wild level 4 Rattatas everywhere, though the game is still charming. I then found the hacked game Pokémon Dark Rising that's actually adult-level difficulty and played that in 12th grade, along with most of the kids in my physics class.
 
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yea but it wasn't the biggest selling game in history back then was it?

Come to think of it, i remember pokemon on the game boy was popular, but who knows, i doubt the popularity of this game will last


It's the 3rd largest selling game franchise in history after Mario and Tetris.
 
History will record that this is the beginning of the end of humanity, after Niantic's system learns how to manipulate humans and Pokevolves into Skynet.
 
I had no idea there were so many 80+ years olds on MRF!

Pokemon Go is a defining moment for the future of mobile gaming. It is not the first AR game by far, but it's the first to make a huge impact, both in terms of players and dollars. I have no doubt that games like this will be the future of mobile gaming. This is were mobile gamng can come to its fore, no other gaming platform can compete with this sort of gameplay.

Me? I don't care about Pokemon, and I resent the up and coming commercialisation of the game. But hey, it got my Reddit and Youtube addicted boys out and walking the neighbourhood, in ever increasing circles. They even offered to come shopping with me. I say, bring it on!
 
yea but it wasn't the biggest selling game in history back then was it?

Come to think of it, i remember pokemon on the game boy was popular, but who knows, i doubt the popularity of this game will last

What's your benchmark for "lasting?"

No game lasts forever. Even a lot of the successful ones are lucky to get half a year of relevance before the next big thing comes along.
 
Judging by that time frame.... No. Nintendo was making the best games back then too.
Sounds like he just had the Sony Playstation and had never seen an N64 :p
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What's your benchmark for "lasting?"

No game lasts forever. Even a lot of the successful ones are lucky to get half a year of relevance before the next big thing comes along.
Nah, man, Final Fantasy MMMMXXXXXVI will be a hit.
[doublepost=1468519017][/doublepost]I tried this game. Unless I'm missing something, it's actually really boring. I was disappointed. Now I'm waiting for Zelda Go. :)
 
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Well... there's no strategy in it. I played Silver all the way through in 7th grade then got bored trying to get through Yellow. After a while, you kinda get sick of fighting Youngster Pauls and wild level 4 Rattatas everywhere, though the game is still charming. I then found the hacked game Pokémon Dark Rising that's actually adult-level difficulty and played that in 12th grade, along with most of the kids in my physics class.
Oh I do agree. I played Red/blue then Silver/gold and it just passed right through me.
However, it's still a very relevant universe and Pokemon GO is a very different experience, so I don't find it sad that people are going outside and actually interacting with each other rather than staying inside playing Call of duty and calling each other moms names ;)
 
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