Pokemon GO is obviously a huge success, that much isn’t news. But it’s worth analyzing, however briefly, what made the game so massive. It’s not just that it’s backed by the Pokemon brand.
The brand is obviously a huge factor, though – catching other monsters wouldn’t be nearly as appealing as living the childhood dream of going around the city catching Pokemon. But it’s exactly that game mechanic that skyrocketed the game’s success – walking. Specifically, the steps. Walking is not just for catching Pokemon – steps are a major mechanic of the game, doing many more things like hatching eggs. Which, by the way, has always been how hatching eggs works in Pokemon – they hatch after a certain number of steps. Except now, the player has to actually take those steps.
It’s little details like these that made the game such a success, and developers must take note – it’s not enough to slap a popular brand onto any game to make it successful. It has to have appealing game mechanics. That has always been, and always will be the recipe of success in the gaming industry.
