Release of Pokemon Go for Android. Is Pokemon GO still alive in Russia? What happened to the game a year later. Let's hope for the best

More than two years after the initial launch, the once popular game has become available on the Russian Google Play and App Store. All users of smartphones based on Android 4.4 / iOS 9.0 and newer versions can download it.

Over the past couple of years, the game has received several major updates that have made many changes to the gameplay. The number of available Pokemon has increased to 382, ​​and this is far from the limit. The fourth generation of monsters is expected to appear soon, which means their number will exceed 400.

Recent updates have added the ability to exchange Pokemon with other users, as well as give gifts. The latter can contain pokeballs, various loot and special eggs at 7 km, from which they hatch unusual shapes Pokemon of the first generation.

The basis of the gameplay is still the same: using geolocation, searching and capturing monsters in a variety of places, pumping and capturing “gyms”. The number of players is still in the millions.

Probably, the sudden launch in Russia is connected with the imminent release of the games Let’s Go: Eevee and Let’s Go: Pikachu on Nintendo Switch. Each of them will be integrated with Pokémon GO, so an official release was necessary. In any case, this is a joyful event for fans of the game and the entire Pokémon universe.

At the beginning of July 2016, a new mobile game, which in less than a couple of weeks became famous throughout the world and became the most talked about gaming novelty of this year! Yes, everyone already knows about PokemonGo! It is played by residents of the United States and other Western countries, while Russian gamers and users of mobile devices based on Android/iOS are daily interested in the release date of Pokemon Go in Russia and a number of CIS countries (Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, etc.).

Pokemon Go: release date in Russia

A new toy from Nintendo has simply blown up the entire Internet space and is literally driving all users of modern smartphones crazy. It was first released for Nintendo game consoles, but appeared on July 6 mobile version has attracted everyone's interest, without exception, primarily due to augmented reality: now, in order to play your favorite Pokemon, you need to walk around the city with a phone in your hands and, thus, complete levels and earn points.

In Russia, according to various media reports, the official release date of PokemonGo was scheduled for July 18, then it was postponed two days later, and on July 20 it was stated that the exact date remains in question, which greatly upset all gamers and those simply interested with this application on Android/iOS.

On the same day, PR manager of Nintendo, Konstantin Govorun, said that there was initially no talk of the release date of Pokemon Go in Russia, and the information about moving the release date to the 20th was erroneous. “We said that the game would be released SOON in Russia, but we did not name the exact date,” Govorun emphasized.

Despite the fact that there has not yet been an official release of Pokemon Go on the territory of the Russian Federation, our compatriots have found workarounds and are already catching virtual monsters with great excitement.

Pokemon Go: game review

In Russia and former countries Soviet Union Not everyone knows about Pokemon, which cannot be said about residents of the USA and Japan, where they learned about these virtual animals 20 years ago. It was then that the first games appeared on consoles. Our acquaintance with Pokemon took place in 2001, when the children's anime series “Pokemon” was first shown on television. However, when talking about the PokemonGo game, you need to understand that it is not based on the animated series - this application is a new and improved smartphone version of the original Pokemon games. And augmented reality is considered the main improvement.

The toy is an RPG where main character, controlled by the user, travels in the fictional virtual world of Pokemon. One of the gamer's goals is to collect as many animals as possible, and then fight with other users who are also collecting a collection of Pokemon. Also in the game you can arrange fights and get the title of champion. It is noteworthy that the player does not catch Pokemon on the smartphone screen, but in reality!

How to play Pokemon Go

Despite the considerable number of rules and nuances in PokemonGo, it is still not difficult to understand this game and you will soon understand how to play Pokemon. The very first task of a gamer is to catch Pokemon. To do this, you need to go outside and turn on the camera in the application, as well as GPS. When you see a Pokemon on the screen, you need to take a Pokeball in the game and throw it at the virtual monster. A few tries and you will intuitively understand how to catch animals.

Once you have your entire collection of Pokemon, you have great options: you can train them, arrange battles and much more!

1. IN different time Every day you need to check the same places, as some Pokemon can be found there.
2. Remember about PokeStops. If you are traveling to public transport or are in a traffic jam, you may have time to catch the animals and activate all the points.
3. Use special pokeballs or berries to catch red or orange pokemon.
4. Monitor the incubator: there must be an egg in it.
5. Spend your dust wisely. In the early stages of the game it is not of particular value, but in the future you will be able to upgrade strong characters with it.
6. For battle, do not use automatic selection of Pokemon - it is better to do it manually.
7. Turn off AR mode.

PokemonGo is a game that will definitely not leave you indifferent and will give you a lot of interesting positive emotions.

The global release of Pokemon GO promises to be the loudest in the gaming industry, surpassing even such projects as Lineage II and World of Warkraft with their tens of millions of subscribers. Here the situation is even more global. The game is so unusual and original that about 70-80 million people already play it. The funny thing is that it is not yet possible to download it on iOS and Android in Russia, because it is still not officially presented here.

However, this really bothers few people, and if there is a desire, then there are more than enough on the Internet. And yet, many are interested in when Pokemon GO will be released in the Russian Federation and surrounding areas.

Is it worth the wait?

Initially, the Russian start of the project was scheduled for July 18, as evidenced by the statement of official representatives of Niantic and Nintendo. But the release was postponed for technical reasons, and there were good reasons for that: the servers could no longer cope with the load, because no one expected such a flurry of visits. Let us remind you that the Pokemon GO project started only on July 6 and is rapidly increasing the pace of popularity, without even thinking about slamming on the brakes.

It’s all because of the augmented reality mode, which has simply captured the consciousness of young people and others. Imagine: Pokemon live among us and can be found anywhere and anytime: on the roof of a house, in a room on a curtain, on a bed and even in a closet. True, this is only visible on a smartphone, but such a concept has never been used anywhere before, and it is guaranteed to be successful.

Pokémon GO official trailer

It has already been created in Russia, but even there there are no exact and specific launch dates. Let's hope that this will happen one of these days, but for now the youth of the 90s, who grew up on Pokemon, continue to play this wonderful project by any means available, overcoming themselves and enduring constant freezes. But what can you do to get pleasure?

Server statuses

Based on information received from Niantic, Russia already has its own repositories of personal information about users intending to download the application. But the servers are still idle and they are in no hurry to start them up. Most likely, the reason lies in a desperate lack of capacity. Remember that Pokemon GO consumes a significant amount of traffic, and the plot is entirely based on geolocation. It is very difficult to keep such an array in memory.

And if now the game is released only in some regions of Europe, America and Australia, and the flow of users amounts to hundreds of millions, then imagine what will happen if everyone else who does not want to install the application relatively illegally is allowed to play it. The excitement is comparable to the opening of a hypermarket, but much more grandiose.

Let's hope for the best

Let's hope that the date will be confirmed soon and Russia will finally have the opportunity to hunt monsters at any time of the day or night. There is no need to put pressure on developers who themselves did not expect the colossal success of their brainchild. You just need to be happy for them. Remember that there are still many patches, additions and expansions in the future. The universe contains more than 700 Pokemon and is currently shown only. Even the legendary representatives of the league, the hunt for whom is in full swing, are not represented.

We are looking forward to the launch of Pokemon GO in the Russian cluster. We clench our fists and count down the minutes.

As you yourself know, Pokemon GO has become one of the most popular gaming products in the world over the past couple of months. Everyone plays this game - even those who in theory would not play. Description of the game and the file itself.

In a minimal amount of time (based on August 5, 2016), Pokemon GO has already been downloaded more than 100 million times. This is simply an incredible number. But don’t think that’s all! Even before the official release of the game in Russia, it had already been downloaded more than 1 million times in Moscow alone!

Although the release date of Pokemon GO in Russia is constantly kept silent and possibly postponed (also by this moment, there are also in many other CIS countries), but to the above figure of users who downloaded the game, it is worth adding at least the same number - that is, the figure is even more significant. Therefore, if you are among the other half of the lucky ones, be sure to look at the material that will help make your game more effective - .

Pokemon GO release date

I will say on my own behalf that the time when Pokemon GO will become officially available in Russia and other CIS countries is getting closer. According to data taken from the website pokemongo.nianticlabs.com, the game is already fully functioning in the countries of Asia and Oceania, given that Pokemon GO was launched in Kong Kong not long ago - at the end of July. From all this we can conclude that the developers will soon reach our country.

If you look a little deeper than everyone else, you can understand that it is quite difficult to ensure trouble-free operation of a navigation application (which is Pokemon GO). But the game developers have already done a tremendous amount of work in this direction:

The game immediately appeared only in the USA and New Zealand.

But already in mid-July it almost completely covered Europe - among the first countries were Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain and Portugal. By the 16th of July, there were already more than 25 of these countries.

And then Asia and Oceania.

At the moment (August 5, 2016), the last territory where the game has officially launched is South America.

Therefore, if we do not take Africa into account, then the CIS countries, including Russia, are next in line.

When exactly will Pokemon GO be released in Russia?

At the moment the exact date is not known. But taking into account all the above facts, I dare to say that this will happen at least until the end of August 2016 and at most until the end of October of the same year.

In the meantime, you can enjoy the game with unofficial sources, having made just a few necessary settings in your device, and which ones - read in mine.

The important point remains what will happen to your progress if you install official version. I assure you - you can sleep peacefully! You have your own account where all your achievements will be saved. And after authorization everything will remain the same as it was. Only the game will become faster and more stable.

Brief summary

Of course, Pokemon GO is a rare phenomenon, as well as extremely interesting and new. Although this game is not yet available to us (at least officially), this will change soon - we have to wait no more than two months, and maybe much less!

We found out whether the trend from last summer is still alive in Russia.

Last summer, the whole world became obsessed with the augmented reality game Pokemon GO. “Pokemon” literally blew up the Internet, the media, the minds of young people and broke several App Store records at once. For example, Pokemon Go reached the 10 million downloads mark the fastest of all mobile gaming applications.

But by the end of August, interest in the game began to fade, and if you believe Yandex statistics, it completely died out in Russia.

Just a month ago, the media remembered the game again. The reason was the sentence imposed on blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky for publishing a video of him playing the game Pokemon Go in the Church on the Blood. The blogger received a three and a half year suspended sentence.

We will not comment on the court’s decision, but will try to find out what happened to the game over the year, whether Pokemon are still alive, whether they are in Russian churches, and whether we can expect new “viral” explosions from the game. The creator of the largest Russian-speaking community GOpokemonGO.ru, Victor, will help us with this. Go!

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The Pokemon GO community and the decline in interest

– Tell us about yourself, how long have you been interested in the world of Pokemon, why did you decide to make a website about them?

Initially, I became interested in the game Ingress, which I was developing Niantic. After playing for a while, I abandoned it. A few months later, I accidentally learned that Niantic was planning to release a new game (Pokemon GO) based on augmented reality technology. I was immediately very interested in this project.

Since there was practically no information in Russian, I decided to launch a website, which I began to gradually fill, making translations and adaptations of English-language articles. Over time, the site has grown into the largest Russian-speaking community for the game Pokemon GO.

– What is the audience of the site and group? In contact with(age, gender), are these regular Pokemon fans? Or those who became interested in them after the release of Pokemon Go?

More than half of the visitors to GOpokemonGO.ru are men aged 25-34 years. Not all of them are fans of Pokemon - many are simply attracted by the concept of the game (exploring the world around us, walking in the fresh air).

– What was the interest at the peak?

– About 150,000 people visited the site per day. For comparison, now on average about 5,000 people visit the site per day.

– A month and a half after the crazy boom for Pokemon all over the world, interest in the game began to decline, did this affect the Russian fan movement? Did people play and quit?

There is no doubt that the release of Pokemon GO became one of the most significant events of 2016 – and not only in the gaming field. Pokemon GO has made many people think differently about augmented reality. The rise of the augmented reality industry is largely due to this game.

The fact that there was a decline is normal, since the interest at the start was simply mind-bogglingly great. However, constant updates and events bring old players back to the game. Don't forget that Pokemon GO has not yet implemented many important features (such as PvP and trading). The developers have prepared many more surprises for us, there is no doubt about it.

Especially, The game has not yet been officially released in Russia, it cannot be downloaded directly from Google Play.

The official release will also bring a number of new players to Pokemon GO.

– I used to see young people on the streets hanging out at poke stops, throwing “luras”, etc., when I entered the game last week I didn’t see much activity, did the game lose its “audience” or did it seem to me?

Yes, of course, the audience has decreased. Pokemon GO has been downloaded 650 million times (according to the developer's estimates), with an active audience of about 65 million people per month. I repeat – events and updates bring back “old” players to Pokemon GO. Moreover, we will soon see an update to the gym system and the appearance of legendary Pokemon in the game, so I would not talk about the “death” of the application.

We are seeing the constant development of Pokemon GO, many features that should have appeared in the first months after the launch of the game are only now being added to the game.

Game updates and official launch in Russia

– Over the past year, the game has received many updates, which ones were significant? What changed? Which of them, in your opinion, should have been released as quickly as possible (which did not happen) so that interest in the game would not pass away and newcomers would not abandon it?

Undoubtedly, one of the most significant updates was the appearance of the second generation of Pokemon in the game. In the first months after launch, the developer was busy solving problems with the stability of the game, since no one could have predicted such a stunning success. Therefore, the implementation of many interesting “features” had to be greatly delayed.

The developer has really worked hard in the year since the game launched. Pokemon GO works stably, the necessary infrastructure has been created for further improvement of the game.

– To want to see something new in the game? What is missing?

Many people are really looking forward to legendary Pokemon, the appearance of battles between trainers and trading in the game.

– Are people going to catch Pokemon together (last summer I often saw night “hunters”)?

I often beat opponents’ “gyms” together with a friend - it’s very convenient, fast and fun, but, in general, coaches don’t play together that often. This is largely due to the fact that the cooperative aspect of the game is not yet very developed in Pokemon GO.

However, Niantic CEO John Hanke ambiguously emphasized that this aspect is a priority in further development games. Soon there will be a global change in the mechanics of gyms - and after that we can expect more “coordinated” actions by members of different teams.

– Why do you think the game was never released in Russia? Will we wait?

Only the developer can give an exact answer, but there was no information from him on this issue. There are a lot of speculations on this matter; I see no point in retelling them.

I believe that the Pokemon GO game will undoubtedly be released in Russia, because a similar application, Ingress, by this developer can be downloaded from Google Play and iTunes without any problems.

The future of the game and the Sokolovsky case

– What do you think about the case of Ruslan Sokolovsky? Maybe the reason for the non-release of the game in our country is that there are too many Pokemon in temples and cathedrals (and the developers cannot “drive them away”)

I will not comment on this case. No, I’m sure that this is not the reason that the game was not released in Russia.

– Have you tried to make money at the peak of interest? Advertisers? Souvenir?

The site contains unobtrusive contextual advertising, which can be easily disabled by any ad blocker. When there was hype, many advertisers wrote to me with a variety of offers, especially for monetizing mobile traffic. I rejected all these offers because I was not sure of their honesty. I am glad that GOpokemonGO.ru is a genuine community in which there is a place for friendship, trust, and warmth. Placing aggressive advertising can negatively affect trust in the resource, so such methods of earning money are not used.

– Does the game have any chance of being talked about again?

I don't think the game has been forgotten. Any event or major update is covered on all major resources of the Russian-language Internet. Of course, there will no longer be such “hype” as last year, but this is quite predictable. Although, who knows - Niantic knows how to surprise and present surprises.