Pokemon Go has already been hailed as a great way to socialize and get some exercise, and now it’s also helping the wider economy.
As reported by The Street, US videogame retailing giant GameStop has revealed that sales are doubling in stores that either serve as a Poke-Stop or a PokeGym within the game. Apparently 462 GameStop outlets across the country fit this bill and, according to CEO Paul Raines, sales in those stores “are up 100%” in the past weekend alone. Stores that boast these features will have had Pokemon Go players flocking to them either to catch new monsters or to help take control of the gym for their respective teams.
The game, developed by Niantic, launched a few weeks ago and quickly proved to be an extraordinary phenomenon. In it, players travel around the real world in order to find virtual Pokemon, bringing them up on their smartphone’s display to be caught when discovered.
Raines also told CNBC’S Squawk on the Street show that Pokemon merchandise has also climbed significantly over the past few weeks, and is also up by 100%. That will likely include toys and cards, which themselves were another inescapable craze for children during the 90’s. It will also include the main games in the series, which currently appear on the 3DS. In fact, a new pair of games, Pokemon Sun and Moon, will be releasing towards the end of this year. It’s going to be interesting to see how the sales of that game might be affected by Pokemon Go‘s success.
Perhaps the bigger question, though, is if and when this current craze might die out? A few weeks on and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
Raines also briefly touched upon VR, again reiterating previous statements that he was confident Sony’s PlayStation VR would be a “dominant” force in the market that the company would push heavily. Reality-altering technologies are clearly leading these companies in interesting new directions.
