Pokémon GO became a truly massive phenomenon last year. The multiple world records it broke in its first weeks after release are proof of this: it became the mobile game with the most downloads in its first month, the one that generated the most revenue and the fastest, and hit the top of the lists of most successful apps. The game, which was released in Spain on 15 July 2016, earned more than 200 million dollars (170 million euros) in its first month.
It was a success without precedents that, throughout this year, has slowly deflated. In effect, Pokémon GO was a passing fad that attracted an audience of all ages, both youngsters that were not familiar with the original Pokémon from 1996 as well as older fans that had indeed enjoyed that first generation of monsters on television as well as on the portable Game Boy console. The lack of updates on the part of developer Niantic to feed new content into the game and its repetitiousness provoked the large-scale abandonment of the application by users.
However, it is still in good health. At present, the game has about 65 million monthly active users around the world after having downloaded more than 750 million times since its launch last summer. The huge activity seen in 2017 has been possible thanks to the arrival of updates that users were waiting for like the addition of the second generation of Pokémon, as well as the appearance of the so-called legendary Pokémon.
A 'legendary' summer
The application's players have had to wait a year to be able to capture in the legendary Pokémon, which have always been considered the most special and difficult to get throughout the history of the saga. During this summer, Articuno i Lugia, two birds highly-coveted by the public have landed in the augmented reality. In July Moltres, the fire bird, arrived and from 7 August until the 14 Zapdos, the legendary electric bird, will be available.
The process to catch these rare Pokémon is not at all simple. Niantic has made sure to promote cooperation to be able to take on the challenge of beating and, then, of capturing these birds. Users need the help of other players to be able to fight and defeat these Pokémon. If they win the duel, then comes the second part of the challenge, to manage to capture them.
Barcelona, Pokémon capital
Niantic has chosen Barcelona as one of the cities of the world, and the only one in Spain, where an event called Pokémon GO Safari will take place, in which Pokémon will be available for capture that are usually only present on other continents. The event will take place in the Catalan capital on 16 September.
Pokémon GO Safari will be held in the La Maquinista shopping centre. Besides being able to capture monsters from other continents, both those from the first generation as well as the second, the gathering will include appearances by powerful bosses who users will be able to take on, the title's developers have announced through their website.
New games for Nintendo 3DS
Pokémon GO fever has also increased the sales of Nintendo games and consoles. The Japanese company doubled the number of Nintendo 3DS sold last summer and on the back of the wave launched Pokémon Sun and Moon for the console in November 2016. They sold 14.69 million copies of both games by the end of the year.
The Kyoto company announced last June the launch on 17 November this year of Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon for Nintendo 3DS, which will tell an alternative story to the events of Sun and Moon. The arrival of new games in the franchise does not end here, with Nintendo announcing the last E3 conference that the company is in the middle of developing of a new title for Nintendo Switch, although they had no launch date to announce.