Pokémon GO

Players can customize their avatars after creating an account, with the option of keeping the default avatar. Avatars are displayed on the game map according to the player's GPS location. The map features "PokéStops" and "Gyms"; players can equip PokéStops with "Lure Modules" to attract wild Pokémon, including potentially rare ones. Gyms serve as battle arenas for team-based king-of- the-hill matches.

These locations are typically at points of interest and originally adapted from Ingress portals. Some Gyms and PokéStops have been placed in problematic locations, such as the Korean Demilitarized Zone and the abandoned Bagram Air Force Base. Since 2019, player submissions have also been included in these locations, subject to review by other players.

The concept of Pokémon Go originated from the Google Maps: Pokémon Challenge, an April Fools' Day project released by Google Maps on April 1, 2014, that was created by Google engineer Tatsuo Nomura as a 20% project. Niantic founder John Hanke contacted Nomura in 2014 after seeing the demo and proposed building a Pokémon game playable in the real world in the style of Niantic's transreality game Ingress. Nomura subsequently introduced Ingress to Tsunekazu Ishihara of the Pokémon Company, who took to the game and saw the proposed Pokémon collaboration as a fit for the series. Niantic, a Google subsidiary, used crowdsourced data from Ingress to create PokéStops and Gyms in Pokémon Go, incorporated Google Maps data to determine Pokémon locations, and integrated map displays from OpenStreetMap starting in December 2017.

The game's application logic is based on the open-source Kubernetes system, which faced challenges due to Pokémon Go's massive user base, leading to subsequent improvements. Niantic became an independent entity following Google's restructuring into Alphabet Inc. in 2015.

Pokémon Go was released to "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Upon release, critics called the experience enjoyable but noted the game's technical issues.

Critics praised various aspects of Pokémon Go. Oscar Dayus (Pocket Gamer) said that the game was an immensely enjoyable experience and added that "the very personal nature of catching Pokémon in your own neighborhood made me smile more than any game has for years." Jeremy Parish (US Gamer) compared the game and its social aspects to a massively multiplayer online game. Reviewers also praised the game for its promotion of physical exercise.