The 2016 mobile augmented-reality game in which players caught creatures in the real world was Pokémon Go.
Developed by Niantic in partnership with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, Pokémon Go uses GPS to place Pokémon, PokéStops, and Gyms on a map based on the player’s physical location. In augmented-reality mode, the phone’s camera and motion sensors make a Pokémon appear to stand in the surrounding real-world environment. Players catch Pokémon by flicking Poké Balls across the screen.
The game launched on July 6, 2016, in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States before expanding internationally. Its concept grew from Google Maps: Pokémon Challenge, an April Fools’ project created in 2014, and it also borrowed location data and ideas from Niantic’s earlier game Ingress.
Pokémon Go is sometimes confused with Ingress because both use real-world maps and points of interest, but Ingress has a science-fiction setting and different objectives. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite was another location-based AR game, released later in 2019. Draconius GO was also a separate creature-collecting game, not the landmark 2016 Pokémon title.