Using data science to understand the virality of Pokémon Go

The rapid rise of the Pokémon Go AR mobile game through application store charts, has provided researchers with valuable information on the factors needed for a sensation to emerge. Insight platform Qualtrics and SurveyMonkey have published information that allows the phenomenon of Pokémon Go to be understood, and puts them in context. Pokémon Go became the biggest mobile game ever, soon after its launch in the United States. https://twitter.com/surveymonkey_i/status/753034667494895616 Pokémon Go became the biggest game of 2016 in the app store just 3 days after release. There were 21 million active users of the app at its current peak in the United States, which betters the peak achieved by Candy Crush by 1 million users. This is how Pokémon Go compares to other games.  But it is not just games, Pokémon Go is competing with unlikely apps. If a sponsored locations feature  is introduced, it could go toe to toe with Foursquare. Pokemon Go surpassed Twitter, Tinder, Instagram and WhatsApp in daily active users on Android. It is headed towards overtaking Google Maps and Snapchat.  Pokémon Go is highly engaging, with people playing with the game even while driving, and getting pulled up for doing so. Pokémon Go 21 per cent of players have said that they would rather play the game than have sex. Pokémon Go is a highly exhausting game, and the physical exertion is great for fitness levels. These stats are being churned by insight platform Qualtrics. https://twitter.com/Qualtrics/status/753824902172385280 The research by Qualtrics shows to what extent Pokémon Go trainers will go. 16 per cent of trainers spend more than four hours a day playing the game. 43 per cent of players have become fitter with an average weight loss of 1.45 kgs. 85 per cent of players have played while driving, and 4 per cent have got pulled over by the police for doing that. 10 per cent of the players have admitted to trespassing to catch Pokémon. All of this is not just nostalgia.  35% of the players have never played Pokémon or owned a card prior to the launch of this app. The most requested feature is the ability to battle with friends, and the most popular team is team red. All of this begs the question, why now? The technologies required for such a game were around since at least Ingress. Why did Nintendo agree to let Niantic make this game? Nintendo based content were in great demand on mobile phone platforms ever since the advent of smartphones, but Nintendo resolutely did not allow its intellectual property on third party platforms. Why did Nintendo budge from this position? Well, it might have had to. Interest in dedicated handheld gaming console games and home video game titles were at an all time low. Nintendo was just not selling too many games. https://twitter.com/StatistaCharts/status/752510857289031680