‘Niantic Labs’ ‘Pokemon Go’ Partially Inspired By Google April Fools Joke

“Pokemon Go” has become an international craze that set off one of the most intense global trends that the millions of users can’t get enough of. In fact, so many of them are getting hurt while using the app that governments are starting to issue regulations and advisory messages regarding its use. However, what many likely don’t know is that the concept of “Pokemon Go” was inspired in part by an April Fools joke that Google subjected its “Maps” users to.

As Mercury News put it, the “Pokemon Go” craze is a phenomenon that has not been seen since the introduction of home video gaming to children back in the 80s. Its popularity is so insane that people from all walks of life, be it regular working folks, athletes, and even celebrities are starting to get caught up with the trend.

On the other hand, the app has had the effect of getting gamers and other couch potatoes out of their houses, which many are considering as a major benefit. There have also been some developments that “Niantic Labs” and Nintendo would likely not have expected, including a “Pokemon Go” user stumbling across a dead body in the U.S. Quite the accomplishment by a concept which started out as an April Fools joke by Google.

According to Bloomberg, Google played a prank on users of Google Maps back in 2014, where it announced that there would be an event involving hunting Pokemon. Supposedly, people only needed to use the “Maps” to find the location of these cute critters. However, the announcement was summarily removed after a few days when it was revealed that it was all a prank.

One of the people who took the announcement seriously was the chief executive officer of “Niantic Labs,” John Hanke. Since they already touched on the basic concept with “Ingress,” Hanke thought that making the joke into a real thing was just logical.