A craze for Pokemon Go and AR

Pikachu has been spotted! At the news that Pokemons were found in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, the streets and beaches in Sokcho were filled with many Pokemon hunters. The craze was even more intensified after some entertainers posted pictures showing they play the Pokemon Go game in Sokcho on social media. This happened after it was known that the game based on augmented reality (AR) is available in Sokcho and its nearby area.

Pokemon Go, a game which has yet to be released in Japan as well as Korea, is available in Sokcho due to the cell map of Niantic, co-manufacturer of the game together with Nintendo. Niantic divided the world with diamond cells, and utilized Google’s GPS to function by classifying certain regions, including Sokcho, as regions in North Korea. Some raise suspicions that Google intentionally made the region available for the game to put pressure on the Korean government, which does not allow sending map data to outside the country due to security reasons.

Pokemon Go is a global craze. In one day after the rollout in the U.S., it ranked no.1 in downloads in Apple’s App Store. Over the last weekend, users in New York, Los Angeles and other regions flocked into tourist destinations and streets to find Pokemons. As they watched their smartphone only, some got injured after falling into the drain or got robbed while going to a remote area. Nintendo had been at the brink of bankruptcy as it fell behind in the mobile game market and, but it has now returned.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye mentioned Halal, pet animals and virtual reality (VR) as new promising industries in the 10th trade investment promotion meeting where she mentioned a “better mousetrap.” While VR is based on virtual space and objects, AR allows virtual reality to overlap with the real world. Both areas are challenging for Korea. We should interpret the Pokemon Go craze as an indicator that shows how AR and VR can change people’s lives and direct our resources to the areas. We should not see this just as an interesting social phenomenon.