'Pokémon GO' Is About To Surpass Twitter In Daily Active Users On Android

[Gryphon]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasoneva.../#1ec2a2515174

Cops and kids are playing Pokémon Go together in the streets, local businesses are tailoring their marketing around Pokémon Go, and self-professed socially awkward gamers are making new friends by the dozen. Walk around any neighborhood in America, and it's clear that Pokémon Go is enormously popular and having a massive social impact. How massive, though? Data published today by SimilarWeb indicates that the mobile game is poised to surpass Twitter TWTR +4.09% in daily active users on Android.

Seriously. And Pokémon GO hasn't even launched globally. It's currently only officially available in the US, New Zealand, and Australia. Niantic Labs has actually paused their global rollout due to overwhelming (and I have to suspect somewhat unexpected) demands placed on their servers.

The data gets even more staggering. As of 48 hours ago, Pokemon GO was installed on 5.6% of all Android devices in the United States, and is installed on more Android phones than Tinder (insert "Pokemon is now more popular than sex" joke here). Not only that, but on average users are spending twice the amount of time engaged with Pokemon GO than they are on apps like Snapchat.

These are staggering statistics, but anecdotal evidence seems to back up the game's popularity. Is your Facebook FB +1.19% feed overrun with posts about Pokemon GO? Probably. Have you seen an unusually large amount of people congregating in local parks despite the summer heat? Yep. Did you notice that the game is #1 on the Google GOOGL +1.53% Play store, toppling such behemoths as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram?

Keep in mind this is only data scraped from Android, but it's not a stretch to imagine that iOS data will look similar.

Speaking of Google, search activity for the term "Pokemon" is at an all-time high, and by a considerable amount:

It remains to be seen if Pokemon GO will have staying power, and it will be fascinating to revisit data points like this once the game launches worldwide. For now, it's clear that Pokemon fever is back and hotter than ever, and I can't see the fervency and nostalgia fizzling anytime soon. I've been personally reeled in, and I'm not remotely alone. This is becoming more of a social phenomenon than a game. If you don't believe me, take a walk around your neighborhood and keep your eyes peeled."

[Anjohl]

WOW. Nintendo might win the president's award for geek fitness.

[AdamFTF]

It's certainly become quite the phenomenon. I downloaded it just to see what the buzz was about, and I'm hooked. What's weird is how social it is. I was playing it at the park and other players will stop you to ask if you've caught anything good (for the record: bellsprout, slowpoke and staryu).

[daisetsu100]

i think what make this fact amazing, is that pokemon go is not even released in alot of areas in the world. i dont have either twitter or pokemon go though

[Sasuke Uchiha]

For all the people obsessed with Pokemon Go, have you even stopped to consider that this game has already come out several times since the 90s? It's called "Walking around while playing any pokemon game with your Gameboy, GBA, or 3DS. Yes that includes battling random people, finding random people to trade with in your area, and if you wait for the right time of day even catch certain pokemon, or evolve them." .... unbelievable, old technology is new again.

[simbob4000]

For all the people obsessed with Pokemon Go, have you even stopped to consider that this game has already come out several times since the 90s? It's called "Walking around while playing any pokemon game with your Gameboy, GBA, or 3DS. Yes that includes battling random people, finding random people to trade with in your area, and if you wait for the right time of day even catch certain pokemon, or evolve them." .... unbelievable, old technology is new again.

But you can't find Pokémon in your house with the old games. That's the spin this new thing puts on it.

[L.R Johansson]

It would be interesting to get some new, fresh data, since the app has been launched in more territories since the thread-start.

Is the conquest of the Earth continuing? Is Mew-Two going to be our lord and master for the foreseeable future?

[JCAll]

Is Mew-Two going to be our lord and master for the foreseeable future?

I already am.

[MindofShadow]

Im honestly stunned. I figured the casuals would have gotten bored by now by the same mechanic over and over again and the gamers would have gotten bored by its simplicity and boring gym battles.

I downloaded it, played for 3 days and after days and days of server crashes, i gave up personally.

glad others found something fun to do though