‘Pokémon Go’ is Certifiably Huge

The phenomenon of Pokémon Go is showing no signs of slowing down. Since its introduction on July 6, the game has exploded in popularity with both kids and adults. The augmented reality game, which is ironically forcing people outside, is now officially the most successful mobile game ever.

Pokémon Go is attracting 26 million daily users, according to Survey Monkey — and that 26 million is almost surely going to rise. The game, in which people are encouraged to walk outside and catch Pokémon creatures with their phones, has had the kind of rapid growth few games ever see.

“You see a bunch of pasty white kids trudging around the street in the hot summer, and it looks a little odd.”

Within three days of its release, Pokémon Go had more users than Twitter. It currently sits atop the App Store charts and is earning millions every day. Nintendo, which owns a minority stake in the game, has seen a market value rise of $9 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. The stock has gained 86 percent since its U.S. launch, reports Reuters.

Though some speculate the game could burn out as quickly as it has shot to popularity, its cultural significance is showing no signs of disappearing quite yet.

Even Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have acknowledged the phenomenon.

Clinton had an embarrassing reference to the game in one of her speeches that has inspired many humorists on social media. Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign used the concept of the game to take a shot at Clinton and how she’s avoided criminal charges for using a private email server to read classified emails.

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Behind those numbers and cultural waves are the actual people staring into their phones trying to catch digital beings known as Pokémon. Watching groups of people walk around bumping into one another while flicking their phone to throw Pokeballs can look odd to outside observers not acquainted with the game.

“It really did [look strange] at first,” Jordan Dupuis, a Pokémon Go player in Maine, told LifeZette. “You see a bunch of pasty white kids trudging around the street in the hot summer, and it looks a little odd.”

“I personally think it’s funny to see someone walking around playing Pokémon Go. It’s pretty obvious, too, when someone is playing it,” said Allen Moore, another Maine player. Moore said he plays the game in a local park sometimes and sometimes even makes Pokémon Go a last stop on nights out with his girlfriend, who is also a player. “We’d enjoy the evening by a Pokéstop like any romantic date should be,” he said.

Pokéstops are just part of the new lingo making its way into the hearts of millennials and kids everywhere. The locations are where you will see groups of people looking for Pokémon to catch.

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Besides collecting Pokémon-catching items (like Pokéballs and potions) at Pokestops, there are also gyms where teams of players can do battle with their Pokémon. These gyms and Pokéstops have forced strangers to meet — and to get outside.

“My girlfriend and I both play, and my son is familiar with the franchise. As opposed to sitting in front of the TV after dinner, we’ve broken the routine. We’re now opting to go out for walks around the local area. This is a good healthy change for both my family, and the gaming community as a whole,” says Dupuis.

Those positives are what has earned Pokémon Go support from so many, and helped set it apart from other popular mobile games such as Angry Birds.

Related: Forget Pokémon, Start Chasing Chardonnay

However, the financially successful game has not been without its detractors and negative aspects. With server issues being the least of its problems, Pokémon Go has been tied into strange news stories including a group of thieves being arrested after using the game to track and find victims. A teen playing the game also found a dead body as she was on her way to find a Pokémon.

Car crashes caused by people playing the game while driving have also become more frequent — one man even managed to crash into a police car in Baltimore. “That’s what I get for playing this dumb [expletive] game,” the man told an officer immediately after the crash, according to WBAL-TV.

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Privacy concerns have begun to emerge as well.

Originally, the game requested enough of a person’s Google information to have the ability to read emails and even see what people search for. Niantic, another company behind the game, has since reportedly changed the requirements in response to concerns. Still, it hasn’t stopped many from speculating about the amount of personal information the game may be accessing.

However, despite any setbacks or concerns, Pokémon Go refuses to disappear.

Another Survey Monkey report found the game is receiving 4-5 million downloads a day in the U.S. At that rate, it will be on nearly every single smartphone in America by September.