Pokemon Go

Description

After establishing a game account, players create and customize their own avatars.[4][5] Once created, an avatar is displayed on a map based on the player's geographical location. Features on the map include 'PokéStops' and 'Pokémon Gyms'. These PokéStops can be equipped with items called 'Lure Modules', which attract additional wild, and occasionally rare, Pokémon.[6][7] Gyms serve as battle locations for team-based king of the hill matches.[8] PokéStops and Gyms are typically located at places of interest.[9] These locations are re-purposed portals from Ingress, Niantic's previous augmented reality (AR) game. This has led to PokéStops and Pokémon Gyms being placed at dangerous or inconvenient locations, such as a now-deleted Gym at the Korean Demilitarized Zone.[10]

As players move within their real world surroundings, their avatars move within the game's map. Different Pokémon species reside in different areas of the world; for example, Water-type Pokémon are generally found near water.[11] When a player encounters a Pokémon, it may be viewed either in AR mode or with a live rendered, generic background.[12] AR mode uses the camera and gyroscope on the player's mobile device to display an image of a Pokémon as though it were in the real world.[13] Players can take screenshots of the Pokémon they encounter either with or without the AR mode activated.[14]

Unlike other installments in the Pokémon series, players in Pokémon Go do not battle wild Pokémon to catch them. During an encounter with a wild Pokémon, a player may throw a Poké Ball at it by flicking it from the bottom of the screen up toward the Pokémon. If the Pokémon is successfully caught, it will come under the ownership of the player. Factors in the success rate of catching a Pokémon include the Pokémon's catch rate, the timing and the type of Poké Ball used. After catching a wild Pokémon, the player is awarded two types of in-game currencies: Candies and Stardust. The Candies awarded by a successful catch depend on what evolutionary chain a Pokémon belongs to. A player can use Stardust and Candies to raise a Pokémon's "Combat Power" (CP). However, only Candies are needed to evolve a Pokémon. Each Pokémon evolution tree has its own type of Candy, which can only be used to evolve or level up. The player can also transfer the Pokémon back to the Pokémon Professor to earn one more Candy and create room for more Pokémon.[15] The ultimate goal of the game is to complete the entries in the Pokédex, a comprehensive Pokémon logbook, by catching and evolving them to collect every one in it.[note 2][16]

Although the game is free to play, it supports in-app purchases, where players can purchase additional Poké Balls and other in-game items.[17] These items include Incense (which attract Pokémon to you as you move for thirty minutes), Lure Modules, to attract Pokémon to a fixed location, and Lucky Eggs, which double experience points gained for a thirty-minute period from use. All Pokémon are displayed with a Combat Power. A Pokémon's Combat Power is a rough measure of how powerful that Pokémon is in battle. Generally, as players level up, they catch Pokémon with higher CP.[18]

Players earn experience points for various in-game activities. Players rise in level as they earn experience points (XP), with various features being progressively unlocked. Most notably, at level five, the player can battle at a Pokémon Gym and join one of three color-coded teams (red for Team Valor, blue for Team Mystic, or yellow for Team Instinct), which act as factions battling for control of Gyms within the Pokémon Go world.

In September 2016, Niantic introduced a "Buddy Pokémon" feature, which allows players to pick a Pokémon to appear alongside them on the profile screen, and receive in-game rewards and bonuses based on the chosen Pokémon.[19] The feature was released later that month.[20] During that same update, Niantic updated Pokémon Go to prevent players with rooted or jailbreaked devices from logging into the game in an effort to reduce and prevent cheating.[21]

In June 2017, Niantic announced that the game mechanics of Gyms would be revamped for a more teamwork-oriented experience;[22] Gyms were disabled on June 19, 2017, with the new Gyms being released with the next app update a few days later.[22] As of the update, Gyms included a spinnable component to receive in-game items such as Potions and Poké Balls. Additionally, Gyms are capped at containing six Pokémon, each of which must be unique in that Gym. Coins are now earned based on the amount of time the defending Pokémon has been in a Gym, as opposed to a one-per-day gym defender bonus of 10 coins per current defending Pokémon.[23] In July 2017, Raid Battles were introduced. Raid Battles consist of a group of players gathering to confront an over-leveled Pokémon located in a Gym. If the Pokémon is defeated, the players gain the chance to catch a regular version of it. Raid difficulties range from 1 to 5, with 1 being of the lowest difficulty, and 5 being the most difficult to defeat. Level 5 raids are exclusive to Legendary Pokémon. The first of these, Articuno and Lugia, were released on July 22, 2017, after the Go Fest, with Moltres and Zapdos following. From September to November, the 3 Legendary Beasts: Entei, Raikou and Suicune, were released shortly after, rotating regions every month. Following their departure, the Legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh appeared in Raid Battles from November 27, 2017, to December 12, 2017.

After the 0.85.2 update, Niantic released 50 Pokémon originally discovered in Hoenn region,[24] with two of them, Mawile and Absol, became raid bosses. On December 16, the first Legendary Pokémon from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, Groudon, was released.[25] On January 12, Kyogre was released.[26] On February 9, the last Pokémon of the 'Weather Trio', Rayquaza, was released alongside the latest batch of Hoenn Pokémon.[27] Another update on March 31 added a quest system, which can be completed to obtain mythical Pokémon such as Mew.[28]

Development

John Hanke, the founder of Niantic
The concept for the game was conceived in 2014 by Satoru Iwata of Nintendo and Tsunekazu Ishihara of The Pokémon Company as an April Fools' Day collaboration with Google, called the Google Maps: Pokémon Challenge.[29] Ishihara was a fan of developer Niantic's previous transreality game, Ingress, and saw the game's concept as a perfect match for the Pokémon series.[13] Niantic used the crowdsourced[30] data from Ingress to populate the locations for PokéStops and gyms within Pokémon Go, data from Google Maps to spawn specific Pokémon on certain terrain, and map display from OpenStreetMap since December 2017.[31][32] In 2015, Ishihara dedicated his speech at the game's announcement on September 10 to Iwata, who had died two months earlier.[33] Tatsuo Nomura, who joined Niantic in 2015 after he developed the Google Maps Pokémon Challenge,[34] acted as Director and Product Manager for the game.[35] The game's soundtrack was written by longtime Pokémon series composer, Junichi Masuda, who also assisted with some of the game's design.[36] Among the game's graphic designers was Dennis Hwang, who previously created the logo of Gmail while working for Google.[37]

On March 4, 2016, Niantic announced a Japan-exclusive beta test would begin later that month, allowing players to assist in refining the game before its full release. The beta test was later expanded to other countries.[38] On April 7, it was announced that the beta would expand to Australia and New Zealand.[39] Then, on May 16, the signups for the field test were opened to the United States.[40][41] The test came to an end on June 30.[42]

At the Comic-Con 2016, John Hanke, founder of Niantic, revealed the appearances of the three team leaders: Candela (Team Valor), Blanche (Team Mystic), and Spark (Team Instinct).[43][44] Hanke conveyed that approximately 10% of the ideas for the game were implemented. Future updates, including the addition of trading, more Pokémon,[45] implementation of Pokémon Centers at PokéStops, a patch for the "three step glitch", and easier training, were also confirmed.[46] He also stated that Niantic would be continuing support for the game for "years to come".[45] In an interview with TechCrunch in September 2016, Hanke hinted that player vs. player Pokémon battles would be released in a future update.[47] In December 2016, coffeehouse chain Starbucks and telecommunications company Sprint collaborated with Nintendo to add PokéStops and gyms at certain locations of theirs throughout the United States.[48][49] That same month, a companion app for Apple Watch devices was released, which allows users to receive notifications about nearby Pokémon, but does not allow for them to be caught.[50] In January 2017, an additional 5,000 more Starbucks locations became available as gyms.[51] In February 2017, an update was released which introduced over 100 species based in the Johto region from the second generation of the core Pokémon series, which were added alongside the original 151. The update also included the addition of new berries, new Pokémon encounter mechanics, and an expanded selection of avatar clothing options.[52][53] Some of the Pokémon introduced in Ruby and Sapphire were added in late 2017, starting with a Halloween event in October and 50 more in December. A weather system was added alongside the latter, allowing real-world weather to affect gameplay.[54] In November 2018, a game developed by Game Freak and heavily inspired by Pokémon Go, Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! was released on the Nintendo Switch.[55] This game will feature Pokémon Go style catching with Joy-Con and there has integration between the two games.[56] In addition, new Pokémon Meltan was revealed in September, becoming the first new Pokémon to be released through Pokémon Go.[57] On October 10, 2018, The Pokémon Company and Niantic announced plans to introduce Pokémon from Diamond and Pearl into Pokémon Go.[58] On October 12, Niantic teased one of the Generation IV Pokémon that would be coming to Pokémon Go.[59] On October 25, a feature known as Adventure Sync was announced, which will record the player's walking data in the background.[60] On October 26, Niantic announced research tasks for Bug type Pokémon that will give players a chance to catch Shedinja throughout November.[61][62]
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Pokémon Go Plus

The Pokémon Go Plus, shown with wrist strap
The Pokémon Go Plus is a Bluetooth low energy wearable device, developed by Nintendo's Platform Technology Development division, that allows players to perform certain actions in the game without looking at their smart device.[63] When a player is near a Pokémon or PokéStop, the Plus vibrates.[63] The player can then press the button to capture the Pokémon or receive items from the PokéStop; the player cannot check what they have received until the next time they sign into the app on their mobile device.[13] The design consists of a Poké Ball and the shape of the Google Maps pin.[63] The decision to create the device rather than create a smart watch app was to increase uptake among players for whom a smart watch is prohibitively expensive.[64] It was released in the United Kingdom and North America on September 16, 2016