KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — After an explosive debut in 2016, amazingly Niantic Inc's Pokémon Go game still has a strong global following worldwide... including in Malaysia.

You would have to be living under a rock to have never heard of Nintendo's Pokémon, the popular media franchise originating in Japan that revolves around adorable pocket monsters and "catching them all" as the catchphrase goes.

It is currently considered the biggest media franchise in the world with an estimated annual revenue of US$147 billion (RM636 billion) according to Fandom.com with over US$100 billion of that from merchandise alone.

What tickles me is that Sanrio's Hello Kitty, also from Japan, is number two at around US$89 billion.

That makes them both bigger than Star Wars at around US$70 billion but other Disney properties such as Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse and friends also outrank Star Wars in terms of sheer revenue at US$76 billion and US$74 billion respectively.

Winning hearts and wallets

Pokémon's roots are in its video games that first appeared on Nintendo's GameBoy portable handheld gaming devices and Pokémon Go offered a distilled version of the Pokémon experience but on your mobile phone.

When it made its debut in 2016, there were 232 million active players according to BusinessofApps but the number has since fallen.

ActivePlayer states that as of September 2, 2024, the average number of active Pokemon Go players is 90,378,910 and while that's not 232 million it is still fairly impressive for an eight-year-old mobile game.

Sensor Tower estimates that despite falling active player numbers, the game still rakes in an average of US$4 million per day.

As of now it's hard to tell how many active players there are in Malaysia alone as Niantic does not share that data.

However if you check Facebook, the Pokémon Go Malaysia group has over 119,000 members but various activities and meetups are also organised by local fans on social media or dedicated WhatsApp groups.

Like the rest of the world, the Pokémon Go player base is varied and coming from all ages and backgrounds from children to retirees, all united in the effort to chase after virtual monsters.

Why the appeal?

Besides the mainstream brand recognition, Pokémon Go itself is a fairly easy game to play but with layers of complexity involved.

Catching Pokémon is one thing but creating ideal teams of Pokémon or joining up with other players to defeat raid bosses requires a fair amount of strategy.

It's also a game that isn't meant to be played at home but requires you to go out and you get perks from exchanging virtual gifts with other players, and you level up by just walking outdoors.

Compared to many other mobile games, Pokémon encourages players to go out and get some fresh air and rewards you for getting your daily steps in.

I've personally witnessed grannies wandering around Genting catching Pokémon and in my opinion, that is a far healthier, and much cheaper alternative to playing the slot machines.

If you're averse to being on Facebook, you can still look for community events and gatherings within the Pokémon Go app itself with something happening virtually every weekend or every other weekend.

Just remember to play responsibly — don't play while driving, don't go into dangerous areas or restricted zones and respect private property.