Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you may have heard your local millennials raving about the recent release of Pokémon Go. In the six days since its American debut, the augmented reality game for iOS and Android has boosted Nintendo’s market value by $9 billion- and counting! 

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     You might remember Pokémon’s first emergence in the late 1990s, with kids trading and collecting cards with special characters that battled and evolved as the player improved. Nintendo has finally created the fantasy that fans have wanted for years, which is to experience the Pokémon world in real life. The game is doing just that by requiring players to explore outside of their home to capture new Pokémon characters, and it’s working.

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     Aside from the obvious dangers of collecting Pokémon while driving, or trying to fetch them from your neighbor’s backyard, the game has experienced phenomenal success. Pokémon Go combines the best of augmented reality, with freemium models, mobile GPS and clock tracking to bring players an experience that feels seamless and is highly addictive. Here are some of the lessons that mobile developers and brands may have picked up on since the game’s successful release:

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1) The right incentives go a long way. Video gaming is known for isolating people- with dark living rooms, glowing blue screens and potato chip crumbs coming to mind at the thought. On the contrary, Pokémon Go’s augmented reality concept is actually receiving praise from psychologists around the country for getting patients with depression and anxiety out of their house and moving. Not only that, but the game requires players to travel distances to gain points and new characters. Many users are reportedly walking several miles per day to level up. The biggest reason for this is the game’s ability to reward ongoing investment, with players continually receiving exciting bonuses for taking on new challenges and winning battles. Who knows, this latest Pokémania could be the next wellness incentive program at your work!

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2) The potential of contextual commerce is huge. Contextual commerce is when merchants implement purchasing opportunities for consumers based on their time and place, and Pokémon Go is doing just that. Their freemium model allows in-app purchases of special inventory items that players can buy on the spot to help them in the game. Because the app is tracking a player's time and location, what is offered for purchase changes with the player's surroundings. If you’re near a body of water, chances are you’ll be interacting with seafaring creatures. If you’re out at night you’ll be catching glowing and nocturnal Pokémon instead. Niantic, the company in charge of creating the game, is collecting an immense amount of data about their users, and they’re going to be able to apply it to commerce opportunities such as incentivizing players to attend brand events with the promise of catching special characters or buying particular items based on their preferences and history with the game.

 

3) When other businesses can benefit, it’s a win-win. The game has a feature that allows users to “lure” Pokémon to show up at a specific location, and aside from the potential creepiness of this element, there have been many restaurants across the country taking advantage of obsessed players with the hope of catching special characters. Of course, dropping a “lure” costs money, but reports are coming in that many restaurants aren’t hesitating on spending the few extra bucks to attract new customers to come and dine. A pizza restaurant in New York reportedly boosted its sales by 75% from dropping lures in the first weekend of Pokémon Go’s release. That's a powerful marketing opportunity!

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4) Simplicity is key to user adoption. A significant component of Pokémon Go’s success is how easy it is for players with no previous Pokémon experience or formal training to pickup up the game in a flash. The mechanics of the game are simple and straightforward with the help of intuitive user experience and clean design. Lower learning curves mean higher adoption rates, and that’s a lesson that we can also learn from breakout apps like Snapchat and Instagram as well.

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     Of course, timing is on Pokémon Go’s side as much as any of its other features with Nintendo largely profiting off millennials with 90s nostalgia. Many Pokémon fans were children during its first launch, and are now adults with actual buying power. Even if users don’t fall into that category, chances are they’re downloading the game from the fear of missing out on the social craze.

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     Pokémon Go continues to top both Apple and Google store charts at record speed, with more active users than Twitter in a matter of days. One thing is for sure, the game has set a new standard for the world of augmented reality, social connectivity and mobile commerce in gaming and beyond.