We all know Pokémon Go is a massive success. It has almost instantaneously become the most successful Android and iOS game following its release in the US, spiked Nintendo's share prices, renewed a bidding war over movie rights, and already been cloned in China.
But what does all that look like?
Social media tracking service Brandwatch has followed the Pokémon Go phenomenon since the game started rolling out around the world, and handily converted it into infographics; because everyone loves charts, and they love them even more when they relate to Pokémon.
Read more: How to hatch eggs and get the best rare Pokémon in Pokémon Go
What's immediately striking is the surge of chatter about the game - it's almost literally exploded. Tracking mentions of the game on social media between July 4-10, Pokémon Go went from zero to more than 1,250,000 in a single day, and more than 4.5 million mentions in total over the period. The volume of mentions doubled roughly every two days, and the hashtag #PokémonGo made 5,982,616,734 impressions during that period. When mentions of Pokémon Go are mapped according to geotags, the result is even more interesting, highlighting how truly global the mobile game's impact has been.
The densest congregations are, predictably, in regions where the game had officially launched at the time of the data snapshot – the US, Australia, and New Zealand – but there's also a solid mass in Europe, where it didn't officially rollout until this week. There are mentions of the game in some pretty remote locations too, including Iceland, northern-most Canada, and Pacific Islands.
Brandwatch also notes that the gender split for the game seems much more balanced than typically seen. Ranked against E3 mentions, which saw circa 78 per cent of mentions "categorised as coming from male authors", for Pokémon Go the split is 59 per cent male-categorised authors, 41 per cent female.
Perhaps most surprising is the data of player activity – it turns out a lot of people trying to catch 'em all prefer to do so at night. The chart maps mentions of Pokémon Go based on New York time over the past weekend, references dipped in the early mornings, sinking by around 20,000 mentions at 7am. Conversely, the highest number of aspiring Pokémon Masters were active between 10pm and midnight. However, Brandwatch does acknowledge the "data does account for international mentions," but confirms "79 per cent of mentions were categorised as deriving from the USA."
Read more: China cloned Pokémon Go – before it was officially released
There's no data – yet – on the average age of players, but it's clear a lot are staying out past their bedtimes.
Given these data visualisations are all from before the game is available worldwide, expect even more impressive stats in the weeks ahead. Pokémania is truly upon us again.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
