It’s About Time

The latest hit online game, “Pokémon Go,” was finally launched Friday in Japan, the birthplace of Pokemon, in a tie-up with McDonald’s Japan that makes the restaurants key locations for players. McDonald’s is one of the destinations on the game, which will, in turn, be a huge benefit for McDonald’s.

Japan is where Pokemon began, and people there seem to love it. Nintendo has a 32% stake in the company, in the hopes that it would be extremely popular. This paid off because 2 of the top 3 games in the Nintendo series are Pokemon games. Also, since Pokemon Go has been released, Nintendo’s share price has doubled. Using augment reality and tracking technology, players hunt down Pokemon characters through real life city streets. It utilizes the camera in your phone, and also superimposes the Pokemon character in the real world. The game became an instant success in the US and Australia, and was the most downloaded game in many countries.

The game itself is free, but players can pay to download Pokecoins and other extras to help their search for the characters in the game. If it continues with the same success it has been having, it will become the first smartphone game to reach $4 billion in revenue annually from in-app purchases. This game taps into people’s competitive nature and has become quite a hit!