Pokémon GO: Five ways the game changed gaming in just five years

Happy birthday Pokémon GO!

Pokémon GO is celebrating its fifth anniversary on 6 July.

That's right, it's been five years since the app was launched in 2016, and since then it has been downloaded more than a billion times, with around 148 million people still playing it each month!

Niantic - the people who make Pokémon GO - said that celebrations for the anniversary will run from 6 July - 15 July, with Darumaka, and a flying Pikachu holding a 5-shaped balloon appearing in the wild, as well as in one star raids alongside Chespin, Fennekin, Froakie.

There will also be an increase in some shiny pokémon, as well as special challenges and fireworks!

"There's much to look forward to for this fifth anniversary celebration, as well as beyond for years to come. Let's GO!" Niantic said in a statement.

It's a pretty big year for Pokémon fans, as the gaming franchise also celebrated its 25th birthday earlier this year!

To celebrate Pokémon GO's milestone here are five fun facts about the app...

A record breaking start

First released in the US, New Zealand and Australia on 6 July 2016, Pokémon GO quickly became one of the most downloaded apps in the world.

In fact, in its first month of release Pokémon GO broke five world records!

• Most money earnt by a mobile game (more than $200 million - around £145 million)

• Most downloaded mobile game (over 130 million downloads)

• Most international charts topped at the same time for a mobile game (It was the top game in 70 different countries)

• Most international charts topped at the same time for a mobile game (highest- earning game in 55 countries)

• The fastest mobile game to earn $100 million (around £72 million) reached in 20 days.

By September 2016, Pokémon GO had been downloaded more than 500 million times worldwide and became the fastest game to make more than $500 million (around £361 million).

Since then it has won lots of awards including Best Family Game and Best Mobile Game, at the Game Awards.

Who is the greatest Pokémon Go trainer in the world?

Kyarorina caught two million Pokémon earlier this year!

The mobile game has created a big community of trainers all over the world trying to catch 'em all.

However one trainer really stands out: Kyarorina from Japan.

In 2019 he became the first person to catch one million pokémon in the game.

To break that down, it would mean Kyarorina would have had to catch around 800 pokémon every day since the game launched - as well as trading 100 pokémon each day.

As of 2021, Kyarorina has now caught more than two million pokémon, and has walked more than 38,000 kilometres - that's almost all the way around the world (40,075 km).

What team did he choose I hear you ask? - Team Valor!

Huge live festivals around the world

A picture of what the first Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago looked like

The makers of Pokémon GO have also held lots of live events all over the world since the game launched.

The first 'Pokémon GO Fest' was held in Chicago's Grant Park, in the US, on 22 July 2017.

Tickets sold out in within 15 minutes, and around 20,000 people attended the event, some travelling from all over the world, which included special events and activities.

However, the event was criticised for having internet problems, meaning that some players had trouble catching pokémon.

This year's Pokémon Go Fest is back to live-events

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, live events such as 'Safari zone', 'Pokémon GO Fest' and 'Community Day' became online-only in 2020 to allow players to join-in safely from home.

This year the 'Fest' is taking place on 17 July in more than 20 cities around the world, including in Bristol, Edinburgh, London and Liverpool in the UK.

How did players catch 'em all during lockdown?

Speaking of the pandemic, you might be asking, how did a game that encourages players to explore outside keep going during a global lockdown? Well here's how...

"The safety of our global player community is our top priority," said makers Niantic in a tweet.

In March 2020, they announced that they were making changes to the game to allow players to continue to join in from home.

This included allowing players to join nearby Raids from home, increasing the number of pokémon that would spawn from using Incense, and increasing the number of gifts Buddy Pokémon would bring players.

However, as of June 2021, Ninatic announced that it is starting to roll back some of the features it introduced.

"As we return to the outside world again, these changes are aimed at restoring the focus of Pokémon GO on movement and exploration in the real world. These changes will be introduced slowly and carefully to make it more exciting to explore the world around you." the company said in a statement.

How Pokémon Go made AR technology cool

Pokémon GO uses a technology called Augmented Reality (AR) which allows players to be able to see virtual pokémon in a real-life environment, like your living room, using a mobile device.

AR technology is actually not that new. The first AR technology was developed in 1968 at Harvard by computer scientist Ivan Sutherland.

However, it didn't really take off until the 2000's and Pokemon GO was a big reason why.

The popularity of the game when it launched encouraged lots of other companies to try it out.

Things like funny face filters on cameras became popular, as well as new games that also started to use AR technology, like Wizards Unite and Minecraft Earth.