It has been a decade since Pokémon Go made the millennial dream of becoming a Pokémon Trainer a reality, and the game is still going strong - much to the delight of players, the dismay of their step counters, and the confusion of anyone who has ever seen a grown adult sprint toward a park bench.

Launched in 2016, the mobile app uses GPS and augmented reality to layer virtual creatures onto the real world, creating a hunting experience that has been downloaded over a billion times. Millions still log on daily, and Scopely, the game's publisher since its $3.5 billion acquisition from Niantic in 2025, reports that players have collectively trekked over 100 billion kilometres - enough for 334 round trips to the sun and back.

"Pokémon Go will always start with community," says Michael Steranka, vice president of product at Scopely. "We often receive wedding invites from players who met through Pokémon Go." Because nothing says romance like bonding over the shared trauma of a Mewtwo that just won't stay in the ball.

The game's 10th anniversary was marked by hundreds of players gathering in New York's Times Square to battle a giant Mewtwo, a callback to the original trailer. It's this kind of communal energy that keeps UK content creator j0beats flying around the world for events. "People always think it's crazy that you travel all over just to catch some pixels," she says. "But it's not just about that. It's like a music festival - you could stay home and listen to music, or you could go out and appreciate it with other people."

For some, the game has been life-changing. Austin, a player from Maine, says that before Pokémon Go, motivating himself was "nearly impossible" due to anxiety and depression. "When I went to my first raid meetup it was like a warm blanket," he recalls. "From that day on, that little voice telling me to stay in bed was put on mute."

Of course, the game has had its share of problems. Police once had to warn players not to get so engrossed in catching Psyduck that they wandered into traffic. Servers buckled under the strain of millions of simultaneous Pokéball throws. And the pandemic initially hit Pokémon Go harder than most games, since the whole premise is "go outside."

But the game bounced back, and now, under Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund via Scopely, the future is - well, hopefully not too weird. "My hope is that we prove to players over time that this is definitively a good thing," Steranka says. For now, the focus remains on community, memories, and creating experiences families can share. Or at least, experiences that get everyone off the couch.