Pokemon is back and crossing generational lines

You may have seen individuals or groups of people with smartphones up, engaging in a sort-of high tech scavenger hunt. It’s the latest craze called Pokemon Go. This revival of a decades-old video game has been out almost a week and currently has more users than Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. On KVNU’s For the People program on Wednesday, marketing and strategic management analyst Jessica Dunyon discussed the craze with host Jason Williams.

Game players download the app onto their device then basically hold the phone up and it shows you an image of what’s in front of you, just like your camera does but inside the app you can see these otherwise invisible Pokemon characters superimposed on the picture. You can collect them and points and build teams. But why is an old game suddenly popular now?

Dunyon said, “I think some of it’s due to nostalgia. So 25 years ago, those people have kids now and so not only are they playing the game but they’re like ‘Hey kids let’s play this game Pokemon that I grew up on.’”

The app is free but Dunyon says, make no mistake, they’re collecting data on users that will help make decisions on the next big game or whatever the next big advertising decision is.

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