Pokémon Go downloads hit 650m

Pokémon Go has now been downloaded more than 650m times, developer Niantic Labs has announced.

The news emerged during the Google Developer day at the 2017 Game Developers Conference.

It's a huge figure, although the game had hit 500m downloads in under two months. That additional 150m, although impressive, has been over the past six months, which shows how the game's popularity is waning (although that was to be expected).

Niantic chief technology officer Phil Keslin says that the company is committed to the title for the long haul, and points to the recent update where 80 new Pokémon were added to the game (all of the new creatures hail from the Pokémon Gold and Silver titles first released in 1999/2000/2001 depending on which part of the world you're from). GamesIndustry.biz is currently seeking information on the impact this update has had on player engagement.

One element of the game that Niantic is especially proud of is the way it has managed to get people walking. Keslin said that players have walked around 8.7bn kilometres (or 5.4 billion miles) in the game, which is the equivalent of walking from here to Pluto.