Nintendo has struck gold once again. This past week, Pokemon is back in the news again. No, this is not 1999. It’s 2016, and instead of Game Boys and Nintendo 64s, it’s now iPhones and Androids. Niantic, Inc. (the creators of Pokemon Go) released this game based on ‘Augmented Reality’. In a short summary, the game runs as follows:

You start off by gaining access to Pokeballs and try to capture as many Pokemon in the wild as can. The trick is to go around town and stop by many places around your community or otherwise and build your XP (experience points) to capture more rarer Pokemon and battle in gyms to face off against other people playing the game as well.

This game in the last week has earned Nintendo more than $14 million (the game is free though), and it shows no signs of slowing down. So with that being said, some have questioned the big deal of this game. They ask…..why is it so popular? Well, there are a couple of reasons for this phenomena.

The first is for those of the Millennial generation (at least those born between 1985 and 1999) have very fond childhood memories of the original Pokemon game, anime and manga of the 1990’s and 2000’s. Over the last 20 years, the Pokemon brand has been a goldmine in Japan, the United States and around the world. Other franchises that have made a similar kind of impact are the likes of Power Rangers, Dragonball, Transformers, Sailor Moon and others. So with Pokemon, it is imperative to understand that childhood memories run deep with this generation. Now with a younger generation (Generation Z) who have come up in age with iPads and all-access internet, this kind of phenomenon is similar to those of the Millennial generation from 15+ years ago who had the same kind of interest in Pokemon.

Back then, Pokemon merchandise were sold from every which-a-way possible. Places like Toys ‘R Us were under major shortages when it came to almost anything Pokemon-related. Thankfully, there are no shortages here with Pokemon Go……except for the fact of during the initial release, there had been server issues and lags across the board. As of this writing, some of those issues seem to be fixed with constant updates.

As with many popular phenomenons, there are always concerns. And in this case, it’s no different. Some of the complaints with Pokemon Go have been that people playing the game outdoors have had a difficult time being aware of their surroundings. Some have been driving in their cars playing the game. Doing that is just as bad as texting due to the constant distractions looking down at the phone. Other cases have been finding dead bodies while playing the game with a story of this happening in Wyoming recently. Some of the worst cases have been the addiction of the game has led to an increase in robberies as some fears have been announced in Missouri and even Australia. Many critics have also had concerns of even the login to the game. When you first open the app, it requests a Google account to sign in and access the game. The concern has been the fact of what kind of information is being shared. Many have argued the game accesses too much sensitive information, including user e-mails. While Niantic has denied the e-mails part, they have tried to defend their stance on privacy rules of the game. Again, as of this writing, this issue still remains. Data has also been an issue of concern when it relates to always-on GPS tracking. The game requires all users to have GPS location on and continuous data on-going to fully enjoy the experience. While there are still data caps on most of the major wireless providers, we will see whether this becomes a bigger issue as the game progresses from week to week.

Regardless of the complaints and concerns, there’s no denying that Pokemon Go has become a user boom in mobile, surpassing even the likes of Twitter. It’s hardly been anything of an overnight sensation, but the long-term success of this mobile game is something that Angry Birds had going not too long ago. However this plays out, the one fact is this: Augmented Reality is here. To stay? It just might. Either way, everyone wants to catch ’em all. But….it’s best to do it safely.