It’s fair to say that all of you must have heard of Pokémon GO by now and it’s almost certainly taking over your life.
The game, which uses augmented reality to let people catch Pokémon in real life, has only been released in the U.S, Australia and New Zealand so far, but it has already taken the world by storm.
So much so that most people can’t even play because the surge in demand is breaking the servers that power it.
Sadly, for us who live in the UK and the rest of Europe, the game, which is already one of the most popular to ever be brought out, our release date has been held back because of these teething problems.
However, that doesn’t seem to be stopping many of us. Judging from a quick scroll down my Facebook feed, many keen gamers have already found a way around it.
But something you might not remember is that over two years ago, Google released this infamous April Fool’s prank video, which pretty much announced the phenomenon of Pokémon GO in 2014. Creepy, right?
The video strangely predicts the mobile sensation, but their fake game was called the ‘Google Maps Pokémon Challenge’, where it allowed users to catch Pokémon in the wild.
But before we claim this is a total conspiracy and that the creators, Niantic Labs, ripped Google off, we need to remember they were originally part of the technology giant. The plot thickens!
Together with Nintendo and the Pokémon Company, Google proved to be a major investor in the game’s production and Niantic’s CEO John Hanke claimed that work on Pokémon Go actually began in early 2014, BuzzFeed reports.
So the next time you’re on the commute to work, trying to catch a pesky Abra, remember that you have Google’s prank to thank.
