The Lasting Impact of Pokémon Go: A New Era for Shared Play When Nintendo's iconic Pokémon franchise debuted in 1996, few could have predicted that its next chapter would unfold on mobile devices a quarter century later.
The release of Pokémon Go in 2016 marked a seismic shift in gaming culture by transporting players into the real world through augmented reality.
The game's impact is staggering: Scopely estimates that Pokémon Go players have collectively explored over 100 billion kilometers while playing – equivalent to approximately 334 round trips between the Earth and the Sun.