Pokémon Go arrives in India

CHENNAI: According to the ‘State of India Gaming Report’, the gaming market in India is valued at USD 2.6 billion in 2022 and is expected to rise by 27% annually to hit USD 8.6 billion by 2027. That’s one reason Pokémon is bullish about the Indian market.

The company announced the India launch of Pokémon GO. Pokémon pegs India’s gamer base at 600 million – the largest in the world. The company has added five lakh ‘Pokéstops’ across India since 2016 to create a seamless environment.

Pokémon changed the face of gaming since its global launch in 1996. The Pokémon journey began in Japan in 1996.

The company launched the “Pokémon Red Version” and “Pokémon Green Version” video games for the Game Boy platform.

The company forayed into the realms of trading card games, TV anime, film, apps, merchandise making it a global phenomenon. It started with 151 creatures back then and currently the Pokémon universe boasts of over 1000 creatures.

You can access the India version on Google Play and the Apple App store where Pokémon GO has also restructured the pricing for coin bundles and introduced an exclusive coin bonus.

At a time when health experts have raised concerns around the sedentary nature of gaming, Pokémon GO is more about going outdoors and an active lifestyle.

The company came together with Niantic in 2016 and leveraged the power of AR (Augmented Reality) to create an active game lifestyle that has now arrived in India.