Pokemon Go Game Discussion - Opportunities?

[GuestUser450]

Awesome if true -

 

[becks22]

Honestly I am a bit surprised that there isn’t a post on this already. If you don’t know what it is here’s the Wikipedia article:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokémon_Go

I look at like it’s like a high-tech version of the Pet Rock, a fad that millions are suddenly obsessed with. Just like Candy Crush was during late 2014-2015. Except Pokémon Go involves running around like an idiot with your face glued to your phone; apparently you can buy headsets to help you with your quest. Within the first few weeks, it has 21 million players and is only in 4 countries. It seems to be taking the world by storm now and it is all over the news and social media. My opinion is the people that are actually playing the game are Slowlaners or Sidewalkers even but as Fastlaners I think we can appreciate the scale and magnitude of the game. If you look at the download numbers, it also seems to have a large demand. It also seems to have leverage because once the game was created and people downloaded, it just snow-balled from there. Of course the man Satoru Iwata who actually created the idea of the game is dead now which is sad especially considering that he doesn’t get to reap any of the benefits and see the success.

It will be interesting to watch Nintendo’s stock for the next few months because I wonder how long this craze will last. I suspect at least for the summer but I wonder what will happen when kids go back to school in about 8 weeks. It is a fad after all so eventually it will crumble but I think it will be interesting to watch and see how it goes.

Anyone else watching this to see how it pans out? Anyone actually playing or knows that their kids are playing?

Also I hope that was an ok place to post this. I wasn't sure exactly which sub-forum it should go in.. Thanks

 

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[RisingStars]

I don't even know what Pokemon Go exactly is but the founder is actually a pretty impressive "overnight success".
(Who worked 20 YEARS to make this happen)

Source: http://www.nextbigwhat.com/t/pokemon-go-the-overnight-success-is-a-work-of-20-years-john-hanke/1560

EDIT: Oh and btw Pokemon GO is NOT taking over the world of slowlaners because they are to busy working 3 jobs, clipping coupons and reading books of wall street investment gurus.

 

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[mrarcher]

How to sell to millennials -
1.Find something for children - pokemon, coloring books etc,
2. market it for "adults",
3. laugh your way to the bank.

 

[Aisha]

When I first read about this Pokemon Go craze I thought it was very silly and couldn't believe adults were running around town doing this kind of thing. But then I started reading the book Inevitable by Kevin Kelly, and I started to think that the creators of this game are pure genius.

I (in all my infinite wisdom) decided to buy a house out in the country so that my kids would have a big yard to go outside and play all day long and enjoy themselves. The irony is that my kids are completely of this new generation. They just want to sit around playing video games or watching YouTube videos all day, it is literally an argument involving all kinds of tantrums to get them to spend even 5 minutes outside (we even got a trampoline!). And I know I'm not the only parent dealing with this.

Basically all this was to say that after reading the book and thinking about my own problems and thinking more about the game, I realized that the developers found a way to meet people where they are at. They tapped into something they know people are already obsessed with (their devices) and meshed it with a fun game and the by-product is movement and exercise. I begrudgingly admit that I will be happy to see a larger variety of games along the same lines as this coming out in the future.

 

[Fox]

Some rare Pokemon shows up in Central park. One guy just runs and leaves his car still running.

Its already been downloaded more times in a week than Tinder was in four years.

 

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[Vigilante]

 

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[biophase]

This is why my phone is set to silent after 8pm.



Well, that & this:

Worth noting, this is also from Biophase.

Awww, you saved it this whole time!

New idea! get a real estate agent to drive me around to look for Pokemon, er I mean look for houses.

 

[Plank]

Damn, I just gotta say I love how y'alls minds work. I feel like I have been walking around for 35 years with my eyes sealed shut. This game came out and first thing I thought was "meh" then overheard something about it being played so much folks were getting in wrecks and getting hurt, and thought "Morons" You guys see the same stuff and start thinking "Money" "Millions of people" "How can I turn this into an advantage" You guys kickass!

 

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[becks22]

Whilst everyone else is playing it im trying to find ways to monetise it. This is a great opportunity to make some money but agree that it wont last long just another fad

Along with making money a lot of people are trying to get all the attention it is bringing for good causes. One example is local animal shelters that are asking people to hunt Pokemon while taking dogs out for much needed walks which I think is a nice thing for people to do.

 

[Scot]

I find it kind of short sited that the #1 game on the App Store, making millions of $$$ a day in the FIRST WEEK of launch is being called slow lane

 

[Kelly C]

I like this game. I mean I don't actually play it - my 8 year old does. We went for a two hour walk yesterday playing this. 2 HOURS. Because there was an interesting distraction - I got a lovely relaxing walk with my family without my son moaning. He loves going for walks but 2 hours is a lot of walking for him...he'd much prefer playing or doing something else physical than walking. So instead of doing our usual half an hour walk yesterday we did an extended one much to my delight. I envision the same thing happening again today.

I mean my son is pretty physically fit for his age - he does some running with me, does gymnastics, swimming etc...

But what I think is great about it mostly is that if this is encouraging unfit children to get out and get more physical activity its amazing just for that.

 

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[The-J]

I would then upsell like crazy, sell crappy pokemon tshirts, sunglasses, etc. I had no idea how this game worked.

Funny you say T-shirts.

There are 3 teams in the game that you can join: Blue, Red, and Yellow. Each has a logo.

You could sell these shirts at a Gym location (a location where people battle Pokemon) for a cheap price. Bonus points if you do it legally.

Lures and existing Gyms can draw attention to local businesses. In fact, looking at my Pokemon map, there's 2 lures set up in the location of what seems to be a bubble tea shop and an ice cream shop. Business owners are already taking advantage.

Lures last for 30 minutes. 24 of them (12 hours worth) will cost about $28.

Your business, for $28, can draw hundreds of extra people into your establishment. That's ridiculous.

Bonus points if you put up a lure at peak times.

Gyms and Pokespots are set in stone. You can't change their location. I live by 3 of them (each one taken by a different team).

 

[ApparentHorizon]

Why would people buy crappy Pokemon tshirts when they can buy better stuff online? The players are in Facebook groups, subreddits, etc that are sharing fan made merch.

B/c in person sales are powerful? Not saying you'll get more sales, and it is slowlane, but I'll be damned if some kid doesn't use his physical "PokeStore" to launch himself into a real business.

Plus, you have a greater chance of receiving a C&D, online. Nintendo is known for being incredibly protective of their IPs.

Apply the below image to the Pokemon hype. Keep a scorecard of each team, display it publicly, augment their rivalry and get them coming back day after day. You can even take bribes to inform on the other teams.

Meanwhile, you happen to be selling water in that exact location.

 

[Guest34764]

Just finished putting together my pokestore lol.....now to play with some ad words and get some IG traffic!

Remember to be careful because Nintendo likes to send out Cease and desist letters a lot.

 

[Andy Black]

Some rare Pokemon shows up in Central park. One guy just runs and leaves his car still running.

Its already been downloaded more times in a week than Tinder was in four years.

Wow. Crazy.


It's even worse than this:

It's the human equivalent of this:

Control the dot, don't chase it!

 

[Ninjakid]

Few tips for the players out there:

Pokemon are more common depending on the amount of cellphone traffic. So areas with high cellphone traffic have more pokemon.

If you want Pikachu as your starter, ignore the first three pokemon who come your way, and pikachu will spawn. I had Charmander already by the time I figured this out, but I'm not disappointed lol

If you go out at night, different types of pokemon will spawn.

Eggs hatch apparently based on your movement detected by your phone's accelerometer, not your location. So you can literally keep spinning your phone and your eggs will hatch even if you don't go anywhere.

Go to a PokeStop and collect items. Walk away from it, and come back like 5 minutes later and you can collect items again.

Rare pokemon will be more common as you level up. So catch as many pokemon as possible in the beginning, and more rare ones will appear.

Also, rarer pokemon appear as you move further and further from your starting location. If you're leaving your house to catch pokemon, make sure you're logged in before you leave your house, that way you put as much distance between you as possible.
When you're going home, log in again so by the time you get home you'll have more chance of collecting rarer pokemon.

I've heard that if you download your area map, the game will use less data and battery because it won't have to retrieve your area map from Google Maps every time.
However I've also seen lots of people, including a Google engineer say this won't work, as pokemon go will connect to a new area map every time.
My assessment: I'm not completely sure yet whether Pokemon Go interacts with Google Maps on your device, or the game basically uses it's very own Google Maps app. I guess I could try deleting Google Maps and seeing if the game still works, but if it's the latter, than downloading your area map won't save you battery life or data.
But still, it's worth a shot, just putting that out there if anyone wants to try.

Basically those are all the tips I have to share now, but if I find anymore I'll let you guys know.

P.S. I'm loving the game as you can probably tell lol

 

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[redsfaithful]

Nintendo is failing, still.

Nintendo didn't make this game. They just licensed out their characters. Niantic (the company that made this game) will be bigger than Nintendo soon, if they keep innovating at this rate. Possibly in a position to acquire them.

I'm not an expert on Nintendo as a company, or on video games for that matter, but I think the reason the stock jumped isn't just that Pokemon Go is doing well - it jumped on the assumption that Nintendo is going to start actually monetizing and using their IP (even if only in licensing deals like this, although I think they certainly have the capability to go into non-proprietary mobile gaming and AR on their own if they want to.)

There's a tremendous amount of hidden value in that company. They have kept all of their IP on their own systems and handheld devices. They could probably be Disney like if they executed properly.

I'm actually struggling to think of any other entertainment company in the world that has iconic characters and IP that are comparable to Disney, but Nintendo does. If they branch out more, there could be a lot of growth ahead.

 

[Mr.Chaos]

Created a few unique T-shirts got my first few sales today.....total cost to set everything up 1$ for domain.....and 14 day trial for shopify and their generic template. Used a third party vendor who prints and ships the shirts as they are ordered. Now to source similarly colored portable chargers and other accessories.

 

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[splok]

Nintendo has had a staunch view that they are a "console" company (for reasons I can't fully understand)
...
Yes they have great franchises, but you can't ignore that Nintendo hasn't innovated on new characters and franchises in decades. Pokemon is the most recent franchise it created -- in Feb 1996 over 20 years ago.
...
But Nintendo has been incredibly focused on milking 20+ year old franchises and ideas and stopped putting the focus on innovation around the IP and focused on relatively weak innovations in technology (e.g. annoying Wii remotes running on "meh" graphics consoles).
...
Nintendo needs something just as dramatic, and based on their previous decisions, I am not sure they have the chops to make it. My hope is that an innovative company like Niantic takes over the licenses and continues to make great games around them, and innovate on new ideas where Nintendo fell off.

How is it hard to understand why Nintendo is a console-focused company? Here are the sales of their consoles in millions of units. They did obviously screw the pooch with the Wii U, but their "annoying Wii remotes and meh graphics" moved over 100 million consoles (while actually being profitable on the sale of every unit, while Xbox/PS lost money on each sale for at least a year).

DS/3DS - 213 Million
Game Boy/Color/Advance - 201 Million
Wii - 101 Million
NES - 62 Million
SNES - 49 Million
N64 - 33 Million
Gamecube - 22 Million
Wii U - 13 Million

As long as enough people are willing to drop hundreds of dollars on a console and 60+ dollars per game, there are going to be console companies. How many app companies post multi-billion yearly revenue numbers? and do so continuously for years (http://amigobulls.com/stocks/NTDOY/income-statement/annual). I don't see the clamoring for Xbox and Playstation changing to a mobile strategy. Why chain yourself to someone else's platform when you own your own?

Also, they do create new IPs (http://nintendoenthusiast.com/article/the-15-new-nintendo-ips-this-generation/), but obviously the existing, well-known/nostalgic ones get the vast majority of the attention.

Having said that, I'm not sure if their strategy holds out in the long-term, mainly because I'm not sure how much longer people will be willing to spend hundreds of dollars for the console experience. However, they're absolutely right that mobile is devaluing the F*ck out of games.

 

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[JokerCrazyBeatz]

Pokemon has ALWAYS been one of nintendos big games , i used to waste hours of my life as a kid glue to the tv watching it and playing the games on game boy , its more then just a fad its taking us millennials back in time to when we were the kids glued to it.

Of course it wont be this big forever but i still know 20- 25 year olds that buy every pokemon game that comes out

I dont think it will just die out specially for as big of a loyal audience pokemon has

Its a AMAZING move on their part

I wont be playing it BUT i dont know to many who arent , even "grown ups"

 

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[Invictus]

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
Cereal Killer

Well that sounds terrible. Am I not allowed to play Paintball? Or read fun books? Watch the things I want to watch?

Isn't one of the points of the Fastlane Lifestyle the freedom to do what you want?

 

[Charnell]

Isn't one of the points of the Fastlane Lifestyle the freedom to do what you want?

Hell no! It's to condemn those who choose to do what they enjoy in the now and not the later.

 

[nichiseven]

My younger brother grew up with Pokemon. As an older sister, I wanted to encourage his hobbies so I got into playing it and watching the show with him. I even learned the Poke-raps (lol). I knew how popular the games were but didn't keep up with the franchise in general since it's not my thing. As soon as Go launched I knew it was going to be huge. I've played it a little bit (5 hours) and read up on it even though I'm not interested in it because I wanted to understand it. This might die down in a while, but it won't immediately go away and AR games/apps will get more and more popular as the market develops.

A young friend of mine (he's about 22) started setting up lures outside his family's cafe. They were already one of the most popular in their city and now even more so. They're getting a lot of extra custom from Go players.

Another friend of mine is working the waterfront in my city which is a big Go activity area selling drinks and battery packs. It'd be a great place to sell snacks and even have a little charging station in the late afternoon/evenings when player's battery life is getting low.

I've noticed a lot more families (parents and children especially) out and about playing Go. I really like that it's bringing out some of the shut-ins, getting people involved with their kids and even encouraging people to exercise. I have a guy friend who has been morbidly obese for around a decade now. He'd barely walk 10 minutes to anywhere unless he absolutely had to. Now he's averaging 8k/5m per day.

On the flip side stranger danger is a thing and adults need to be on the ball in making sure our kids really understand the do's and dont's while they're out collecting.

It's interesting and while I won't be investing any more time in it I'm really glad that I played it, read up on it and learned about it. I feel like I gained a lot from it.

 

[The-J]

If you want to play golf or paintball. Do it with your current employees, local entrepreneurs, or potential new client.

F*ck that LOL

 

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[splok]

Speaking of the implications for Nintendo stock, this is interesting because they've intentionally avoided the mobile market until now. They didn't want their key titles to be on 3rd party platforms because it would devalue their own. When people buy your multi-hundred dollar consoles with $60 games (The average LTV for a Nintendo customer is probably in the thousands), the switch to mobile is a big one. I assume that they're experimenting with this because it's an experience that you can't get with a console, but it'll be interesting to see the long term results.

 

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[Invictus]

I know a guy that has a shaved ice truck (snow cones). Am i reading these posts right? Could he buy a lure where his truck is parked? Meaning, can he create a "gym" (I think that's what it's called) where people will come to his location to snatch up a Pokemon? Thanks.

So, since there are a few people mentioning lures and stuff. A bit of an explanation.

The game has 'Pokestops' and 'Gyms'. Pokestops give the players items, Gyms lets them fight for their team. Both are already set in the game and you cannot set up your own Pokestop or gym.

You can only use a lure at a Pokestop.

If you have a storefront you can move, I'd suggest trying to set up shop in a park (if possible). Friends and I went to get beignets last night. Sooooooo many people there. The store that's already in there (it's basically a historical area at this point) is doing great business.

Also, make sure you're not mentioning how stupid you think the game is in front of your customers. Might turn them off.

I would be buying lures every day and dropping them at my front door LOL. I would then upsell like crazy, sell crappy pokemon tshirts, sunglasses, etc.

Why would people buy crappy Pokemon tshirts when they can buy better stuff online? The players are in Facebook groups, subreddits, etc that are sharing fan made merch.

 

[Fox]

We got our first winners, Small businesses.

http://www.inc.com/walter-chen/pok-...sales-at-small-local-businesses-here-s-h.html

 

[ddzc]

Our local police just sent out bulletins and notices on FB about following common sense when playing this game (stop trespassing on private properties, watch your surroundings and have awareness of where you're playing the game, etc). It's unfortunate and surprising how stupid these people are. I think just a couple days ago, fire and rescue had to save a couple of people who were looking for pokemon or whatever in a cave and got lost inside lol.

In my opinion, this is just a glimpse of VR and how it's manipulating the masses so easily! Pretty soon, most people will be living in a virtual world escaping from their shitty "real" lives.

 

[Ninjakid]

What's funny is...

You guys are still talking about Pokemon Go.

It's only the first of its kind to get as big.

Wait until the first VRMMORPG.

I already have a business idea just waiting......

I don't think VRMMORPG will ever be a big thing.

VR has been tried many times over decades (interestingly by Nintendo), but it has never had lasting success. Why?

Oculus Rift was supposed to be huge, but how many people do you know who actually use Oculus Rift? I tried it once and I thought it was interesting, but now way could you subject me to keep that thing on my head for hours at a time.

I think the reason is this: contrary to the general opinion of gamers, we don't all want to just engross ourselves in an alternative reality and shut ourselves out from the world. This is why Gameboy revolutionized the gaming world, and now mobile games are taking over the industry, because ultimately people want to go about their daily lives while being able to play videos games wherever the are. I personally find that much more desirable than shutting out all my senses and becoming a radical hermit.

I feel like Regina George would step in and say "stop trying to make VR happen, it's not going to happen."