Pokémon GO

Pokémon GO is a free-to-play, mobile application developed by Niantic for and  devices. The game was initially released in July 2016.

Gameplay
In Pokémon GO, players catch various Pokémon, evolve them using candies, and power-up them in order to take control of Gyms for their chosen team. These Pokémon are mapped to locations in the real world using GPS technology. PokéStops located at various real-world landmarks aid in this by distributing items for use in catching and battling with Pokémon.

The two most recognizable screens of the game are Map View and Wild Pokémon Encounter Screen.

Map View
The Map View is essentially the main screen of the game; following the initial loading screen. Most of the game elements are accessible from this screen.

Main Menu
The Main Menu of the game is accessible from Map View and allows player to enter such game elements, as: collection of Pokémon and their eggs, in-game Shop, Pokédex and bag with Items. It also lets player to go to Settings Screen or check out Tips and News on the game.

Trainer setup
Trainer setup (also called Intro or Tutorial) is the part of the game, where Professor Willow introduces himself and shows beginner players the basic game mechanics and elements. In this part of the game Trainers select their Starter Pokémon and nicknames.

Game elements
Below there is the full list of major game elements and mechanics in Pokémon GO.
 * Pokémon
 * Attacks
 * Types
 * Evolution
 * Power Up
 * Pokémon Eggs
 * Catching Pokémon
 * Pokémon Appraisal
 * Pokémon-related resources
 * Stardust
 * Candy
 * Items
 * Poké Balls
 * Potions
 * Revives
 * Berries
 * Evolution Items
 * Egg Incubators
 * Technical Machines
 * Shop
 * Pokédex
 * Trainer
 * Buddy Pokémon
 * Trainer experience
 * Friends
 * Gifting
 * Trading
 * Journal
 * Medals
 * Teams
 * Combat
 * Gyms
 * Gym Badges
 * Raid Battles
 * Raid Bosses
 * Raid Passes
 * EX Raid Battles
 * Battle Party
 * Trainer Battles
 * Map View
 * PokéStops
 * Weather
 * NPCs
 * Team Leaders
 * Professor Willow
 * Daily Bonus
 * Research tasks
 * Pokémon Nests

In-game news
Despite social media channels, creators of the game inform players about updates and news about events and releases of new Pokémon within the game itself with News module. It has been introduced to the game after main release of Johto-region Pokémon in February, 2017 and later reworked to display more than one new update at time in early February, 2018.

Publisher information screen
After the game is launched, the very first thing that is seen by player is white screen with logo of Niantic and Pokémon Company.

Loading screen
The loading screen (or splash screen) is the first thing players see while logging into the game&mdash;following the developer and publisher information screens. It is changed from time to time and may represent newly added game feature or ongoing event.

Game accessories

 * Pokémon GO Plus – small device that allows players to capture Pokémon while on the move without having to interact with their phone. The device connects to the player's smartphone wirelessly using Bluetooth LE. The device notifies the player about events in the game — such as nearby Pokémon.
 * Poké Ball Plus – small device that operates similarly to the Pokémon GO Plus. It is also controller for the Pokémon Let's Go games.
 * Pokémon GO Plus+ – unreleased version of Pokémon GO Plus with similar features. Additionally it will gather and transfer sleep data to the Pokémon Sleep app.

Release and development
The game first announcement is date for September, 2015, then the game was released in July, 2016 and is under ongoing development up to day.

Game announcement and press releases
Game was firstly announced on September, 2015, the project Pokémon GO was announced by Niantic Labs, and The Pokémon Company. At the same time the initial trailer of the game was released.

Following questions were answered during the press conference with Niantic and Nintendo. Q: How are Pokémon going to appear and how are you going to catch them, game mechanics-wise? A: So, I’m not so sure how many people here have played Ingress and the [main series] Pokémon games, but if there are anyone in the audience who’ve played both games, you might get a better idea of what it’s like. On your mobile device you’ll have a map, and on that map Pokémon will appear. You’ll go there, you’ll encounter them, and you’ll try to catch them. Whether you’re able to do that or not — there’s a variety of factors. And then of course you can use those Pokémon to battle other players. It’s very similar to the concepts that were shown in the trailer. Q: Won’t this game compete with the traditional games? A: This is obviously something we discussed in great length with Nintendo, and we needed to make sure the games won’t cannibalize one another — to use one expression. So after a long discussion, we found a way to make this game fit with smartphones, which so many people have. At the same time, have it so its not competing or cannibalize the sales of the traditional games, but rather augmenting and putting strength into those sales as well. Q: Will this be Free-to-play or pay to download? A: The business model is called “Free-to-start.” You can download the app for free, and there will be purchases available in the app. Q: What Languages or regions will this be available for? A: In terms of regions, we’re planning on a world-wide release of the game. As far as languages, the main games support a wide-range of languages already. We’re working to include as many languages as we can. Q: So in terms of where the Pokémon are going to appear in the world, is that mainly going to be based off of what Ingress uses? For example, in Ingress you’ll get [unclear] where a lot of people show up, but also have certain in-game stuff on the tip of Mt. Fuji. But considering this game is going to be played by kids as well, will there be attention to where people go? Will there be water Pokémon near the water, for example? What are you planning for that? A: So first, that was one of the biggest topics we discussed at length when we first started this project. Where would Pokémon appear, where will we have people go? Of course there are issues where we don’t want people going into traffic, for example. So this is something we considered very heavily when developing the game. Ingress has been going on for quite some time now. I think people have been playing for 3 years now, and it’s definitely shown a lot of results. We have a lot of data and learning that we’ve gotten from Ninantic that we were really able to use to come up with ideas—ways to place the Pokémon, ways to use the data from Ingress, in a way that’s safe for the players. Q: Are Pokémon GO and Ingress going to be a separate world from one another? Will Pokémon GO affect the world of Ingress? A: It’s its own independent world. But we expect the communities to do things together, and for many people in the Ingress community to embrace this game as well. But they are separate worlds. Q: I saw a lot in the video about catching Pokémon, but how is the battling of the game going to work? A: So in terms of how the battles are going to work… In Ingress, there are Portals a player can either defend or attack. In this game, I can’t say very much, but imagine that these portals are instead a secret base or perhaps there is Pokémon there — and maybe there is some reason to battle them. Q: Pokémon is known quite a bit for raising and training Pokémon as well. Is there going to be any of these elements in Pokémon GO? A: In terms of, for example, Pokémon trading. That’s something we really put a lot of care into all of our Pokémon games. In the video, you saw a little of that came out as well. We’re trying to envision what players will want to do in the game, and considering this game [unclear] connected to a server, we’re hard at work coming up with ideas on how to facilitate that best. Q: You mentioned a few times in the conference that the late Mr. Iwata was involved in this project. What do you think his thoughts of this project were, in your words? A: So in our discussions of how Pokémon could really work on smartphones and mobile devices, one of the things that always came up is that we needed to do a new type of gameplay that had never been done before. And I think we really found that with this project. This may sound pretentious, but by adding this element of the location based data to the gameplay of Pokémon really will take it to a new dimension and the next level. And I think this will be a new stage for games. Q: You mentioned there will be in-app purchases, which we’ve seen in a lot of games. Players with more economic power—players with more money—are able to spend their way to be able to win. How are you planning on tackling [in-app purchases] and what sorts of in-app purchases are you going to offer? A: So this is actually one of the things we’re most hotly debating at this moment. Of course, the direction that we’re trying to take is the model in which players—we’ll have a lot of players making purchases but they don’t have to spend a lot. That’s what we’re trying to do, instead of focusing on a small group buying a lot. So I’m not able to speak to any of the specifics right here and now, but the main idea is… well, there are games out there that focus on getting a lot of money from a very small group. I can say that we’re trying to do the very opposite of that. That’s the direction we’re trying to take. Q: For the Pokémon GO Plus, what price-point are you guys thinking of offering? My other question is, how big of difference will there be between players who play with the Pokémon GO Plus and players who just play on their smartphones? What other functionality does it offer? A: So in terms of the price-point, I obviously can’t say the exact number right now, but we’re hard at work with Nintendo trying to offer it at a price that people find attractive. To your question of the difference between players who have it and players who don’t: right now we’re not planning on implementing a ton of extra functionality, so there’s not going to be a massive difference in what you can do with the device and without. Of course we really want to make a product that players who have it will feel like they are getting an added benefit. But at the same time we don’t want to make players without it feel like they are missing out dramatically on something.

Later on, Niantic CEO was going to present details and demonstrate Pokémon GO during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on March, 2016.

The description said: "Attendees will get a first-hand, in-depth look at how players are interacting and exploring the world with one another through Pokemon GO, the collaborative approach to design and development for the game and the next evolution of augmented reality and real-world mobile gameplay experiences.".

Unfortunately this was cancelled on March, 2016, with the following explanation: "We have decided to forego our GDC talk on Pokemon Go in order to focus on getting the product ready for beta test and launch. As much as we hate to disappoint those in the industry attending GDC, we feel our time and energy right now are best spent on making sure every aspect of the product is where we want it to be."

On March, 2016, at , some footage of gameplay at its early stage was shown. It is noticeable that this footage differed a lot from the game on the day of its launch.

Closed beta release
The game went into closed beta release. It was released for a field test in a different countries around the world.
 * March, 2016 -
 * April, 2016 - and
 * May, 2016 -

On June, 2016, the game was showcased by Nintendo at 2016. The game interface during the showcase was different than the one seen with the game official release, mainly regarding Map View and Pokémon encounter screen.

During the field testing of the game there were several version updates released for testers. Between the first closed-beta game version and the first public game version, there were diametrical changes to an UI and UX of the game as well as for some other game features such as initially planned "crystal shards" which were replaced with candy and stardust.

The closed beta finished on June for all locations.

Official game release and availability
Pokémon GO first launched on July, 2016 in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Due to server issues further releases to other countries were delated.

At this time, Pokémon GO has been released in all countries with access to the iOS App Store or Google Play Store, except for Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, mainland China, Tunisia, Algeria, Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Congo, Angola, and Zimbabwe.

The game was released in following countries:
 * July, 2016  - Released in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
 * July, 2016  - Released in Germany.
 * July, 2016 - Released in the United Kingdom.
 * July, 2016 - Released in Italy, Portugal and Spain.
 * July, 2016 - Released in 26 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland.
 * July, 2016 - Released in Canada.
 * July, 2016 - Released in Puerto Rico.
 * July, 2016 - Released in Japan. (due to technical difficulties and an increasingly unhappy consumer base, Niantic released a video statement)
 * July, 2016 - Released in France.
 * July, 2016 - Released in Hong Kong.
 * August, 2016 - Released in the Latin America countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.
 * August, 2016 - Released in countries and regions across Asia and Oceania: Aruba, Brunei, Cambodia, Curaçao, Fiji, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Solomon Islands, Taiwan, Thailand, Turks and Caicos Islands and Vietnam.
 * September, 2016 - Released in Albania, Bosnia and Herezgovina, Macau, Macedonia and Serbia.
 * September, 2016 - Released in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
 * October, 2016 - Released in Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maruitania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zambia.
 * November, 2016 - Released in Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
 * December, 2016 - Released in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
 * January, 2017 - Released in South Korea.
 * September, 2018 - Released in Russia.

Updates
Just like many other online games these days, Pokémon GO, since the release of the game had numerous updates both client side - updates of game client on players' mobile devices and server side - updates of available content such as Pokémon, events and eggs.

Technical issues
In game there were and still are several glitches, bug and issues. Most of them have gone down in history but there are also several known issues, that the game creators are currently working on.

Regions
Unlike most of Pokémon games, Pokémon GO is not a part of any particular generation. The whole game is consistent and publishers after releasing new Pokémon to the gameplay, they use term regions, as for example "Pokémon originally discovered in Hoenn region" or "Pokémon known from Johto region".

In original Pokémon games, regions were an organized areas of the Pokémon world known from previous games about Pokémon such as games from core series. In Pokémon GO there are currently only five regions referred, which are Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Alola.

Events
There have been various events in game that had positive impact to the gameplay. During events certain features of the game were changed to grant players with extra bonuses such as double amount of gained candies, XP and stardust. First, historical event in Pokémon GO was Halloween event in 2016.

There were several reoccurring events that happened for seasonal occasions such as Eggstravaganza, Halloween or Holiday. There are also more frequent events such as Community Days and Nest migrations. Apart from seasonal events there were also unique events that happened just once.

Game anniversaries
Pokémon GO had already three anniversaries &mdash; in July 2017, July 2018 and July 2019. First two of them were celebrated with certain events such as Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago.

Device compatibility
There are few technical requirements that devices have to met to be compatible with the game.

Devices with Android
Following requirements apply to all smartphones, "phablets" and tablets running on Android operating system:
 * Android 4.4 or later;
 * Preferred resolution of 720×1280 pixels (Not optimized for tablet);
 * Strong internet connection (Wi-Fi, 3G, or 4G);
 * GPS and Location Services.
 * AR+ support for various devices that are running Android 8.0 or later. See Supported Devices | ARCore | Developers for more info.

Rooted devices are not supported.

Devices with iOS
Following requirements apply to iPhones and iPads running on iOS:
 * iPhone 5s or later,
 * The iPhone 5c, although newer than the iPhone 5s, is not supported;
 * iOS 9.0 or later,
 * Devices need to be capable of running iOS 11 as this is the preferred OS version;
 * Strong internet connection (Wi-Fi, 3G, or 4G);
 * GPS and Location Services.
 * AR+ support for iPhone SE or later and iPad 5th generation or later. See: iOS - Augmented Reality - Apple for more info.

Jailbroken devices are not supported.

Apple Watch
On September 7, 2016, John Hanke revealed the Pokémon GO Apple Watch app for watchOS 3 at Apple's fall keynote event. Pokémon GO was also available for Apple Watch of Series 2 and later, that are running on watchOS. On June 1, 2019, Niantic announced that it will be discontinuing support for Apple Watch devices after July. All the supporting code for the Apple Watch was removed in version 0.147.0. Niantic's decision to drop support comes ahead of the expected unveiling of watchOS 6.

Trailers
There were three cinematic style trailers of the game.

Official download

 * Google Play Store
 * iTunes App Store

Pokémon GO