We’re proud to say that we’ve been INCREDIBLY busy with the launch of Pokémon GO, an understatement considering the social phenomenon it has become in just a week since launch! The news cycle was dominated by the game, as we’ve outlined below, and all of us at TriplePoint have also been busy exploring the world in search of our favorite Pokémon. Head to our website at www.triplepointpr.com for a little Easter Egg, and input the Konami code for a pleasant surprise.
A big congrats to The Pokémon Company and Niantic on the massive success that is Pokémon GO, as well as all of our other friends who are busy helping to secure its continuing success around the globe. More exciting things to come!
Continuing on with this week’s TriplePoint’s of interest, we’ve highlighted a few great articles fueling the Pokémon GO fire, but didn’t forget some of the other interesting news coming out of the games industry, from SplitmediaLabs’ (XSplit) acquisition of Player.me and Challonge (congrats!!!), to the NES Classic’s reveal, Valve’s struggle with a gambling economy budding out of its games, and the first introduction of a new hero in Overwatch.
Pokémon GO!!!
Fast Company’s Co.Design blog wrote a great piece on how the game has exploded in popularity and accomplished what no other game has to this magnitude – got us up, out, and exploring our real world in search of our favorite Pokémon. The author drills into how the experience is reintroducing us to our surroundings, especially in urban areas, much of which all of us at TriplePoint can also relate to with every visit to a nearby PokéStop, Gym, and park on the daily hunt.
Everyone is playing Pokémon GO including a number of celebrities: Josh Groban, Chris Hardwick, The Jonas Brothers, Wiz Khalifa, and Chrissy Teigen.
Polygon compiled a list of celebrities’ tweets, photos, and videos expressing their obsession to catch them all.
Local shops, diners, movie theaters and other businesses are luring customers through in-app purchases and creative marketing with Pokémon GO. Businesses neighboring PokéStops and Gyms are seeing an increase in foot traffic. Owners are finding ways to be a part of the conversation by investing in lures or offering discounts to Pokémon trainers, say
Inc.Figures from tracking company SimilarWeb’s analysis report that Pokémon GO topped Twitter’s daily users and has people spending more minutes per day on the game than browsing Facebook. Pokémon GO has also topped Pandora, Netflix, Google Hangouts, and Spotify’s daily active users. Additionally
TechCrunch reports that Pokémon GO is installed on more devices than Candy Crush, Viber, LinkedIn, and Tinder.Xsplit Company Acquires Social Service Player.me and Tournament Platform Challonge
VentureBeat has the hot take on another TriplePoint client, SplitmediaLabs, the company responsible for the #1 premium broadcasting software XSplit, completing several important acquisitions – the social network and discovery platform for gamers Player.me, as well as Challonge, a solution for the creation of tournament brackets that has become popular with eSports. These acquisitions are the direct result of a $10MM investment by the company into various technologies fueling the future of how we discover, interact with, and share games with others.
NES Classic
Nintendo is set to launch a new, mini Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Classic console packed with 30 original NES games. The miniature version of the console uses an HDMI cable to plug directly into a television set and is described by the company as a “near-identical, mini replica” version of the original NES console which was released in 1985, says
Polygon.
Valve Takes a Stance on Gambling
Valve is walking away from the rapidly expanding gambling ecosystem that has evolved around its games. The industry was expected to take $7.4 billion in bets this year. Valve’s move to shut this market down could have strong repercussions for the company and the legions of mostly young men who play its games, says
Bloomberg.
Introducing, Ana, a New Overwatch Hero
On Wednesday Blizzard Entertainment revealed a new Overwatch hero, Ana. She is the first new post-launch hero, reports Kotaku. Ana is a support sniper who uses a Biotic Rifle to both heal teammates and deal ongoing damage to enemies from long distances.
See you next week!
