KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8 — The Pokemon Go mobile game has received the most interest online here since the 2014 FIFA World Cup, according to a study by e-commerce site iPrice.
Pokemon Go, which was released just two days ago in Malaysia, scored 100 in iPrice’s online search index, behind only the 113 registered by the World Cup two years ago.
The game also currently ranks third in the index among major events recorded since 2008. The iPhone 5 release in September 2012 scored 116 on the index, and is the highest scoring phenomenon.
Television series Game of Thrones and Brexit, the United Kingdom referendum on leaving the European Union, both considered major events of 2016, only scored 19 each in the index.
Pokemon Go was released in several countries globally last month, and racked up 50 million downloads before its release in several Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Singapore two days ago.
At the time of writing, the game developed by Niantic Inc has been downloaded over 100 million times.
The game reportedly had increased Nintendo’s market value by at least 50 per cent since its debut.
The popularity of the game has led to calls to either restrict its usage or ban it completely for various reasons such as security and religious concerns.
