Pokemon Go launched in the U.S. only seven days ago, but it quickly became more popular than Tinder, and it’s inspired jokes, hoaxes, rap battles, interrupted news casts, movie deals, angry parking lot rants, and silly names. The game is pulling in an estimated $1.6 million per day from iOS users, meaning it’s probably making at least $10 million per day if Android users are buying virtual goodies with the same fervor.
Early signs pointed to Pokemon Go having more daily active users (with users also spending more time on the app daily) than Twitter. According to the newest data, it’s officially more popular than not only Twitter, but Facebook as well. The average iOS user is now spending 33.4 minutes per day trying to catch ’em all, compared to only 22.1 minutes on Facebook, 18 minutes on Snapchat, 17.9 minutes on Twitter, and 15.3 minutes on Instagram. We are truly gripped in the pokefever, and can only hope people can emerge from the pokehaze long enough to seek medical attention for their stab wounds and also assert their voice in a democratic society:
dear nintendo, please put super rare pokemon at polling places this november
— Kris Straub (كريس) (@krisstraub) July 11, 2016
Speaking of locations pokemonsters should lure people into, McDonald’s is reportedly trying to get in on this craze. Pokemon Go developer Niantic has already admitted they’re looking into setting up “sponsored locations” for the game (which might help them avoid horrendous situations like this possible hoax). Now a few people digging around in the game’s source code have spotted something interesting.
Manu Gill, KcYoung, and NeoProfessorWillow spotted McDonald’s references in the game’s metadata, suggesting a sponsored location. NeoProfessorWillow told Gizmodo, “it looks like they’re going to hold a promo with McDonald’s which’ll turn them into all gyms.”
Free WiFi and free Pokemon? Who could resist? Certainly not Steve, though he may get himself uninvited…
(Via Quartz, Sensor Tower, Gizmodo, Engadget, Kris Straub, and Reddit)