Remember the craze for Pokémon GO in 2016?
It was so popular that couch potatoes started to leave the house and walk, just so to catch some Pokémon. Lest you think the game’s past tense now, think again: in the whole of 2018, the game made about USD$800 million; that’s about SGD$1.1 billion.
In a year.
It’s unknown whether Detective Pikachu has somehow revived the game’s popularity, but from what I see, the older folks in Singapore are still addicted to it, just like how they’re addicted to Facebook.
And now, three years later, the Pokémon Company is finally having a sequel, and while I don’t want to sound clickbaity, this is the sentence that comes to me:
You don’t believe what they’ve come out with.
Pokémon SLEEP
The Pokémon Company made an unusual announcement today: they’re coming out with a new game called Pokémon SLEEP, which would be out next year.
As the name suggests, it aims to encourage gamers to…sleep.
Just like how Pokémon GO encourage gamers to walk.
The idea is apparently to transform “sleep into entertainment”, though for me, I’ve no idea why I need that transformation when sleep is already entertainment.
To use the app, gamers would need a new device called Pokémon Go Plus Plus (or you can call it Pokémon GO Plus+). It’s a disc-shaped Pokeball that’s designed to be a sleeping monitor device and is connected to your phone via Bluetooth (HAHA HUAWEI USERS HAHA).
Though that, the device can apparently “track simple information about how long you sleep” and transfer the data into the app.
The whole idea of the game?
According to Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company, “The concept of this game is for players to look forward to waking up every morning.”
How to Play?!
Well, guess even Snorlax would have difficulty answering this question.
Apparently, sleep patterns would affect gameplay, so getting a good night’s sleep is key to winning.
And it’s not my words.
This is Niantic (the company that makes Pokemon GO) CEO John Hanke’s short statement on the game:
Niantic pioneered a new kind of gaming by turning the whole world into a gameboard, where we can all play and explore. By creating a new way to see the world and an incentive to go outside and exercise, we hoped to encourage a healthy lifestyle and to make a positive impact on our players and on the world. We’re delighted to be working with The Pokémon Company on their efforts to encourage another part of a healthy lifestyle: getting a good night’s rest.
At Niantic, we love exploring the world on foot. And that can’t happen unless we have the energy to embark on these adventures. We’re excited to find ways to reward good sleep habits in Pokémon GO as part of a healthy lifestyle. You’ll be hearing more from us on this in the future.
While most people expressed disbelief at this concept, do remember that three years ago, we didn’t believe that a game that forces us to walk would work.
Yet we all gong gong downloaded it and was addicted to it for at least two months.
So let’s just wait to hear from them on this in the future.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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