Pokemon Go takes world by storm, earning $1.6m daily in revenues

There is another important lesson for the Korean gaming industry from Pokemon Go, which is the power of globally-recognized characters.

Pokemania of the late 1990s has been revived, this time with the augmented-reality (AR) game “Pokemon Go” which rolled out for free downloads on iOS and Android last week.

Pokemon Go is the virtual reality game of the season which is making everyone roman the streets like never before. This means we’re a ways away from having a comprehensive picture of how the game is faring on an global scale. In its world “trainers” travel the world to catch varied monsters called Pokemon – rats, dragons and the like – and use these critters to fight each other. Coffee shops and restaurants have already been using “lures” in the game, which attract Pokemon for 30 minutes.

Across the United States, players have been drawn down dark alleys and into risky neighborhoods in search of the imaginary creatures, only to be targeted by criminals. “Don’t play Pokemon GO!” said user Pitaorenzhe on Chinese microblogging site Weibo.

According to data shared by Similarweb, the game is a massive hit. The Los Angles Times ran a recent article talking about how two men fell off an ocean bluff while playing the game. No injuries were reported.

The mobile game is now ready in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia but there are people in other countries who are lucky enough to try the game albeit unofficially.

In Utah, a teen was slapped with a trespassing ticket that he worries could cost him up to $200 after he and a couple of friends went on an early morning Pokemon chase at an abandoned grain silo.

Popular sightseeing locations, such as New York’s Central Park, as well as more obscure ones, including an Australian suburb, have been bustling with crowds of players looking for rarer and elusive Pokemon. That game, which is being played in more than 200 countries, requires players to move through cities and towns to capture “portals” at landmarks such as public art institutions or monuments, essentially turning the entire world into a virtual game board. He was later found to have an outstanding warrant for multiple offenses.