Pokémon Go is a mobile game released in 2016. It uses augmented reality (AR) technology, which adds digital elements to the real world. The game was created by Niantic, with help from Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. It works on iOS and Android devices. Players use GPS to find, catch, train, and battle Pokémon. The game is free to play, but some items in the game can be bought with money. When it first came out, the game had about 150 different Pokémon species, and more were added later.
At first, critics gave the game mixed reviews. They said it was fun but had some technical problems. Despite this, Pokémon Go became one of the most popular and profitable mobile apps in 2016. It was downloaded more than 500 million times worldwide. The game helped make location-based and AR technology more well-known. It also encouraged people to move more and interact with others. However, some people worried it caused accidents and public problems. Some governments introduced rules to control how it was used. By May 2018, the game had over 147 million monthly active users. By early 2019, it had been downloaded more than 1 billion times. By 2020, the game had earned over 6 billion dollars. It is often listed as one of the best mobile games ever made.
In 2025, a company called Scopely bought Pokémon Go as part of a 3.5 billion dollar purchase of Niantic's gaming division.
Gameplay
After creating an account, players can change their avatar's appearance or use the default one. Avatars appear on the game map based on the player's real-world GPS location. The map includes "PokéStops" and "Pokémon Gyms." Players can place "Lure Modules" at PokéStops to attract wild Pokémon, including rare ones. Gyms are places where players battle in team-based matches. These locations are often found at famous spots and were originally based on Ingress portals. Some PokéStops and Gyms are located in unusual areas, such as the Korean Demilitarized Zone and the abandoned Bagram Air Force Base. Since 2019, players can suggest new locations, but other players must approve them first.
As players move in the real world, their avatars move on the game map. Different Pokémon appear in different parts of the world. For example, Water-type Pokémon are usually near water. When players see a Pokémon, they can view it on a real-world background or in augmented reality (AR) mode. AR mode uses the phone's camera and motion sensors to show Pokémon as if they are in the real world. Players can take photos of Pokémon they see, called "Snapshots," whether AR is on or off.
The game is free to play, but players can buy items like Incense, Lure Modules, and Lucky Eggs using in-game currency or real money. Incense attracts Pokémon for 60 minutes, Lure Modules attract Pokémon to a PokéStop for 30 minutes, and Lucky Eggs double experience points for 30 minutes. Each Pokémon has a Combat Power (CP) that shows how strong it is in battles. Stronger Pokémon are harder to catch as players level up. The "Appraisal" feature helps players understand their Pokémon's strength.
Players can change their avatar's clothing based on the season, their level, or in-game events and sponsors. Clothing options include hats, accessories, shirts, pants, socks, shoes, and bags. Many items have designs related to specific Pokémon, teams, or regions. Most clothing is free, but some can be bought with in-game currency. Players earn currency by leveling up, completing tasks, or during special events.
Players can also choose different poses for their avatars. Some poses are free, while others must be purchased or earned as rewards. Certain poses are only available during specific events and may not return after the event ends.
In April 2024, Pokémon Go added new customization options, such as choosing hairstyles, adjusting body size, and selecting more skin tones. However, some players were unhappy because the new avatars had lower-quality graphics than before. Others were upset because the update made some previously purchased items less useful.
In Pokémon Go, players do not fight wild Pokémon to catch them. Instead, they throw a Poké Ball at a Pokémon by flicking it upward on the screen. The chance to catch a Pokémon depends on its catch rate, timing, and the type of Poké Ball used. After catching a Pokémon, players earn Candy and Stardust. Candy helps level up or evolve Pokémon, while Stardust increases a Pokémon's CP. Each Pokémon evolution line uses a specific type of Candy. The maximum player level was 40 until 2020, then raised to 50, and later to 80 in 2025. Players can transfer Pokémon to get more Candy and free up space. Shiny Pokémon can be found through random encounters or special events like "Community Day." Many players aim to complete the Pokédex by catching and evolving all Pokémon.
In September 2016, Niantic added the "Buddy Pokémon" feature, letting players choose a Pokémon to accompany them and earn rewards based on the chosen Pokémon. Each Pokémon requires players to walk a certain distance to earn Candy, with more Candy given for longer distances. Niantic also added a feature to block players using modified devices from playing to prevent cheating.
On January 20, 2018, Pokémon Go launched the first "Community Day," a monthly event that increases the chance of encountering a specific Pokémon and gives an exclusive attack to its final evolution if it is fully evolved during the event. Players also have a better chance of finding the Shiny version of the featured Pokémon. The first Community Day focused on Pikachu, which could learn the move "Surf" when evolved into Raichu during the event.
As of February 27, 2026, the game includes 946 Pokémon, including regional versions, out of 1,025 in the entire Pokémon franchise. New Pokémon are regularly added to the game.
Regional Pokémon are often released together, such as the Unova region Pokémon and the Unova Stone item, which were added in September 2019.
During special events or quests, Mythical and Legendary Pokémon are sometimes released individually or in groups. The first Legendary Pokémon added was Groudon in December 2017. Meltan and its evolved form, Melmetal, are the only Mythical Pokémon in the game. They were introduced alongside the release of "Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!" on the Nintendo Switch. Meltan was first shown as a teaser and later became available through a "Mystery Box" earned by completing tasks, transferring Pokémon to Pokémon HOME, or sending Pokémon to Nintendo Switch games.
In August 2020, Mega Evolution was added to the game, allowing four Pokémon to change into five different forms. Since then, the feature has expanded to include 40 forms.
Players earn experience points (XP) by doing in-game activities. As they earn XP, they level up and unlock new features. At level five, players can join Pokémon Gyms and choose one of three teams: Team Valor (red), Team Mystic (blue), or Team Instinct (yellow). These teams compete for control of Gyms.
In June 2017, Niantic changed how Gyms work to encourage teamwork. Gyms were temporarily closed on June 19, 2017, and updated versions were added later. The new Gyms include a spinnable item (PokéStop) where players can collect items like Potions and Poké Balls. Each Gym can hold up to six unique Pokémon. Coins earned now depend on how long the defending Pokémon stays in the Gym, replacing the old daily bonus system. Legendary, Mythical, and Buddy Pokémon cannot be placed in Gyms.
In July 2017, Raid Battles were added, allowing players to team up and fight a powerful Pokémon in a Gym. If the Pokémon is defeated, players can catch a regular version of it. Raid difficulty levels vary.
Development
In 2014, the idea for Pokémon Go was created through a partnership between Satoru Iwata of Nintendo and Tsunekazu Ishihara of The Pokémon Company. It began as an April Fools' Day project with Google called the Google Maps: Pokémon Challenge. Ishihara, who liked a game called Ingress made by Niantic, thought the idea would work well with the Pokémon series. Niantic, which was part of Google at the time, used data from Ingress to create PokéStops and Gyms in Pokémon Go. They also used Google Maps to decide where Pokémon would appear and added map displays from OpenStreetMap in December 2017. The game’s system is based on an open-source program called Kubernetes, which had problems because so many people played the game. These issues were later fixed. Niantic became an independent company after Google reorganized into Alphabet Inc. in 2015.
In 2015, Ishihara honored Iwata in a speech during the game’s announcement on September 10, two months after Iwata passed away. Tatsuo Nomura, who worked on the Google Maps Pokémon Challenge, joined Niantic in 2015 and became the game’s director and product manager. Junichi Masuda, a composer who has worked on many Pokémon games, created the game’s soundtrack. Dennis Hwang, who designed the Gmail logo while at Google, helped design the game’s graphics.
On March 4, 2016, Niantic announced a test version of the game for Japan, starting later that month. Players could try the game and help improve it before it was released publicly. The test was later expanded to other countries. On April 7, the test was opened in Australia and New Zealand. Then, on May 16, 2016, signups for the test began in the United States. The test ended on June 30, 2016.
At the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con, John Hanke, who started Niantic, introduced the three team leaders in the game: Candela (Team Valor), Blanche (Team Mystic), and Spark (Team Instinct). Hanke said only about 10% of the game’s ideas had been used. Future updates included features like trading Pokémon, adding more Pokémon species, and improving game mechanics. Niantic promised to support the game for many years. In September 2016, Hanke said player-versus-player battles would be added later. In December 2016, Starbucks and Sprint partnered with Nintendo to add PokéStops and Gyms in the United States. An Apple Watch app was released the same month, letting users get alerts about nearby Pokémon. In January 2017, 5,000 more Starbucks locations became Gyms. In February 2017, an update added 100 Pokémon from the Johto region, along with new items and clothing choices. Pokémon from Ruby and Sapphire were added later in 2017, along with a weather system that changed how Pokémon appeared. In November 2018, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! were released for the Nintendo Switch, with features similar to Pokémon Go. A new Pokémon, Meltan, appeared in the game in September 2018. Plans to add Pokémon from Diamond and Pearl were announced in October 2018, along with a feature called Adventure Sync that tracks walking data. Research tasks for Bug-type Pokémon, which could help players catch Shedinja, were also introduced.
In January 2019, John Hanke said that in 2018, Pokémon Go became the game Niantic had originally imagined.
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Niantic made changes to help players who could not leave their homes. These changes included tracking steps indoors, allowing long-distance battles, improving effects from items called Incense, increasing the number of places where Pokémon appear, and making it easier for players to interact with each other.
In May 2025, Scopely bought some of Niantic’s games, including Pokémon Go, while other games like Ingress and Peridot were separated into different companies.
The Pokémon Go Plus is a small wearable device made by Nintendo. It uses Bluetooth technology and lets players catch Pokémon or collect items at PokéStops without looking at their phone. The device vibrates when a Pokémon or PokéStop is nearby, and players press a button to interact with the game. Players only see what they received when they open the app on their phone. The device looks like a Poké Ball and a Google Maps pin. It was created to help players who find smartwatches too expensive. It was released in the UK and North America on September 16, 2016. In July 2023, the Pokémon Go Plus + was introduced. This newer version automatically catches Pokémon and interacts with PokéStops, and it also tracks sleep for use with a game called Pokémon Sleep.
Release
The official launch of the game began on July 6, 2016, in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Because of too many people playing at once, servers had problems. Niantic’s CEO, John Hanke, said that releases in other areas would be paused until the issues were fixed. The Japanese launch, planned for July 20, was delayed because a sponsorship deal with McDonald’s was leaked. It was released two days later. The French release, originally planned for July 15, was postponed to July 24 after a terrorist attack in Nice on July 14. Third-party apps and websites were closed in late July, which helped reduce server strain and allowed Niantic to restart global releases. Central and South America, along with parts of Southeast Asia, received the game in early August. Indonesia became the first Asian country to have the game working, even though the official release there was on August 6.
In South Korea, Pokémon Go was not officially released because of rules about online maps. However, a mistake allowed the game to work in a small area near Sokcho, a city in the northeast, which was incorrectly mapped as part of North Korea. This caused many players to go there. Bus tickets from Seoul to Sokcho sold out, and locals shared free Wi-Fi locations with tourists. Players found a Gym near the Korean Demilitarized Zone but Niantic removed it later. After the game launched in Japan, parts of Busan became playable because they were mistakenly mapped as part of Japan’s area due to Tsushima Island’s location. Pokémon Go officially launched in South Korea in January 2017.
In mainland China, Google services are blocked by the Great Firewall, and the GPS feature in Pokémon Go is also blocked by Niantic. Players must use App Store IDs from other regions and use tools called VPNs to access Google services needed to play the game. Some players use apps that trick the GPS system to bypass restrictions. Others used a copy of the game called City Spirit Go, which appeared after Pokémon Go’s test in Japan. As of 2020, the game remained unplayable in many parts of China because of GPS restrictions.
After its release on August 6, 2016, in Taiwan, Pokémon Go became very popular. The many cities in Taiwan provided a good environment for the game’s location-based features, drawing large groups of players in cities like Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung. A man named Chen Ching-Po, also called “Uncle Pokémon,” gained attention for attaching 72 smartphones with over 20 Pokémon Go accounts to his bicycle.
In August 2016, when the game launched in Southeast Asia, Myanmar was not included. However, players in Thailand found the game was playable in border cities near Myanmar. The game expanded to the Balkans, Macau, and Central Asia in September 2016. By the end of the year, it was also available in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.
On September 11, 2018, the game was quietly released on Russia’s App Store and Google Play Store, over two years after its initial launch. Niantic did not officially announce this release.
In May 2019, the game was released on the Samsung Galaxy Store.
Investors were helped increase by the response to the game’s launch on July 7. Nintendo’s share price rose by 10% at first. By July 14, shares had increased by as much as 50%. Even though Nintendo owned only a 32% stake in The Pokémon Company and an unknown share in Niantic, its market value rose by $9 billion within five days of the game’s release. This trend continued for more than a week, and by July 19, Nintendo’s stock value had more than doubled compared to before the game’s launch. Sales reached a record of ¥703.6 billion ($6.6 billion), and trading of Nintendo’s stock made up a quarter of all trades on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s main board. The Financial Times suggested investors were betting on future Nintendo app releases, as the company was moving into the mobile app market, an area it had avoided before, fearing it might hurt sales of portable consoles and video games. Nintendo planned to release four more smartphone app games by March 2017, and investors noted Pokémon Go showed Nintendo still had valuable character intellectual property, like Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid.
By July 22, Nintendo had gained ¥1.8 trillion ($17.6 billion) in market value since the game’s release. However, after Nintendo clarified it did not produce Pokémon Go and did not gain significant financial benefits, its stock dropped by 18%—a ¥708 billion ($6.7 billion) loss in value—on July 25. This was the largest single-day decline for Nintendo since 1990 and reached the maximum one-day trading limit allowed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Macquarie Securities estimated Nintendo had an approximately 13% “effective economic stake” in the game.
The stock increase was not only for Nintendo; other companies like Tomy, TV Tokyo, and the Bank of Kyoto also saw big gains. Zagg, a company that makes battery cases, saw its stock rise by 25% because of the game’s popularity.
At launch, the game had many server problems because of heavy use. The expected global server usage was reached within 15 minutes of the game’s release in Australia and New Zealand, and traffic peaked at 50 times the expected level, or 10 times the worst-case scenario. The game crashed often and had login errors for several days. For the first two days after launch, players could not access the game through their Pokémon Trainer Club accounts; only Gmail-based accounts worked. Servers had more problems in Australia on July 11. Players blamed people in the United Kingdom for using Australian servers before the official release. On July 16, servers went offline in many European countries a few hours after the launch. A hacking group called “PoodleCorp” claimed they used a DDoS attack to shut them down, but the issue was fixed later that day. The next day, servers went down again when the game launched in Canada. John Hanke apologized for the server issues at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con, saying, “we weren’t prepared for what happened.”
Some early iOS versions of Pokémon Go asked users to give the app full access to their Google accounts, allowing it to read emails, files, photos, and other content stored in Google services. The Pokémon Company and Niantic admitted the iOS app “erroneously requested full access permission for the user’s Google account.” However, a person who first raised concerns about security issues later said he was not “100% sure” his claims were valid. Dan Guido, CEO of the security company Trail of Bits, found that while the game asked for full account access, it did not allow third-party use of accounts as initially claimed. Guido discovered that this mistake let Niantic access users’ email addresses and phone numbers unintentionally. A later iOS app update fixed this issue
Reception
Pokémon Go received "mixed or average" reviews when it was first released, according to Metacritic, a website that collects reviews. Critics said the game was fun to play but had technical problems that needed fixing.
Many reviewers praised the game for being enjoyable and for encouraging physical activity. Oscar Dayus of Pocket Gamer said the game made him happy because it let players catch Pokémon in their own neighborhoods. Jeremy Parish of US Gamer compared the game’s social features to those of a large online game. Terri Schwartz of IGN called it "the best exercise app" and said it changed how she walked every day. Patrick Allen of Lifehacker wrote tips about exercising with the game. Julia Belluz of Vox said the game might be the "greatest unintentional health fad ever" and noted that it helped people move more. Studies showed that users took about 194 extra steps each day on average, which was about 26% more than usual. In 2018, IGN named Pokémon Go the 100th best video game of all time.
Some critics, like Philip Kollar and Allegra Frank of Polygon, said the game was exciting and social but questioned how long it would stay popular. They thought it might last for years or fade quickly.
Other reviewers had negative opinions. Many mentioned technical problems, such as frequent crashes and shallow gameplay. Kallie Plagge of IGN said the game lacked polish and depth but still had an enjoyable experience. Matt Peckham of Time criticized the game for crashing often. Mike Cosimano of Destructoid said the game’s idea was promising but poorly executed. Kat Brewster of The Guardian said the game was not a good game but still a great experience. Server problems also caused complaints. Miguel Concepcion of GameSpot said the game had "buggy" issues, including constant server problems. A glitch called the "three-step glitch" made it hard to catch specific Pokémon, which Patricia Hernandez of Kotaku said worsened the game’s launch. Critics also noted that rural players had fewer advantages than city players, who had more access to PokéStops and Gyms.
Pokémon Go quickly became the top-selling and most downloaded app on the American iOS App Store. It was the fastest game to reach the top of the App Store and Google Play, beating Clash Royale. It became the most downloaded app on the App Store in its first week. Within two days of release, it was installed on more than 5% of Android devices in the United States. Sensor Tower reported that the game was downloaded more than 10 million times in its first week, becoming the fastest app to do so. By July 13, it had 15 million global downloads. SurveyMonkey said it was the most active mobile game in the United States on July 12, with 21 million active users. In the Netherlands, about 1.3 million people were playing the game by July 15, even though the app was not officially released there. In Japan, more than 10 million people downloaded the game on its release day, with 1.3 million downloads in the first three hours. By July 31, the game had more than 100 million downloads worldwide. By August 8, it had over 100 million downloads on Google Play alone, just 33 days after its release.
Through in-game purchases, the game earned more than $160 million by the end of July 2016. App Annie reported that it made about $10 million daily that month. Sensor Tower said it earned over $200 million worldwide that month, breaking records set by Clash of Clans and Candy Crush. By August 12, 2016, the Financial Times reported that Pokémon Go had earned $268 million in revenue from the U.S., British, and German markets. The average daily use of the app on Android devices in July 2016 was higher than that of Snapchat, Tinder, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Because of its popularity, many app developers began creating similar augmented reality (AR) apps using software development kits (SDKs). By September 2, 2016, Pokémon Go had earned more than $440 million globally. By September 30, it had 500 million downloads and $470 million in revenue within 80 days. By September 2016, it had been downloaded over 500 million times and became the fastest mobile game to earn $500 million. It was named the App Store’s breakout hit of 2016 and the most searched game on Google in 2016.
In the United States, usage peaked on July 15, 2016, but by mid-September, it had lost 79% of its players. Forbes said that some players stopped playing because the game had an unsatisfying end. In October 2016, Niantic released a Halloween-themed event that increased revenue by 133%, according to Sensor Tower. The game earned about $23.3 million between October 25 and 29, up from $10 million between October 18 and 22. App Annie estimated that Pokémon Go earned $950 million globally in 2016.
In February 2017, Pokémon Go was named the best app at the Crunchies awards. By February 2017, it had been downloaded more than 650 million times worldwide and earned $1 billion in revenue, becoming the fastest mobile game to do so. By June 2017, it had been downloaded more than 750 million times, with an estimated $1.2 billion in revenue. Apptopia reported that about 60 million users were still playing the game a year after its launch. In May 2018, The Pokémon Company announced that the game had been downloaded more than 800 million times worldwide. Forbes estimated that the game had earned close to $1 billion in revenue by that time.