‘Pokemon GO’s’ Lapras Event Disturbingly Morbid, But Shows The Game’s Immense Power

Forbes reports that Niantic, developer of the hugely popular mobile app Pokemon GO, has just rolled out yet another event. And even after GO‘s Halloween event, this one is the most morbid — and incredibly impressive — yet.

The new update makes it much easier to find the incredibly rare water Pokemon Lapras in the areas of Japan recently decimated by Tsunamis, and it is the next step in Niantic’s current Pokemon GO publicity campaign. It is also helping out Japan itself in an incredible way, and in doing so, enacting one of the coolest bits of potential about Pokemon GO.

aaand lapras… who kinda looks like she'd drown u if given the opportunity pic.twitter.com/ofQIbgYSyW

— ferio @ stede town ??? (@feriowind) October 31, 2016

Pokemon GO definitely took a dip in popularity during late August, September, and early October. Of course, it was absolutely huge when it was released in early July, and its reign on top of the pop culture scene lasted over a month. After the novelty wore off, though, the same old grind — catching the same relatively common Pokemon and visiting Pokestops for a few paltry items — started boring many people who had at one point been dedicated players.

Niantic remedied this beginning in late October with the implementation of a Pokemon GO Halloween-themed event. Among other things, the event made it easier to catch a certain set of rare Pokemon. After the event ended, Niantic did not let Pokemon GO‘s newfound momentum die. They kept enacting new updates, some of which are discussed by the Inquisitr.

When the “more items at Pokestops and more Pokemon encounters” event ended several days ago, Niantic got to work thinking of a new limited-time draw to put in Pokemon GO. They settled on an event targeted at part of the homeland of Pokemon — Japan.

RAW FOOTAGE of Japan Tsunami 201' The wrath of nature https://t.co/ntaUeAhtO7 pic.twitter.com/Ohd7p5yB7D

— Word News (@cloudrhein) August 20, 2016

Regardless of what country you’re from, you probably recall the tsunamis that devestated the Tohoku region of Japan in 2011. The area is still recovering, in fact, and although it used to be a big tourist destination, people have not been visiting Tohoku nearly as much as they used to.

At any rate, Niantic certainly remembers, because they are currently spawning endless amounts of Laprases (Laprasi?) in Tohoku. This serves two purposes, both of which prove the immense power of Pokemon GO.

One purpose is that it is attracting loads of tourism to Tohoku, a region that, as mentioned above, is starved for visitors. In fact, notes Pokemon GO Informer, several people, including the producer of a popular Pokemon GO YouTube Channel called Trainer Tips, have gone so far as to travel all the way from the U.S. to Japan for the event.

The second purpose is even more powerful, as it speaks directly to the massive power held by Pokemon GO. Even before its release, the app was hyped up as a way to make certain locations special for a little while.

“You do things like enabling asynchronous play. If someone passes through that town on a trip to somewhere else, they interact with the locations there. That makes the place feel alive,” Niantic CEO John Hanke told Venture Beat way back in December, 2015, when discussing Pokemon GO‘s potential.

“What people might be doing in very small, remote locations is still critical to the global game. We’ll find that a town in rural Mississippi all of a sudden has a global spotlight on it because it’s an anchor for one of these big fields.”

With the Lapras event, Niantic has managed to put Tohoku on the map in a very real way just by editing a few lines of the code behind Pokemon GO.

The immense tourist draw and the ability to suddenly put this small area in Japan in the center of the global spotlight is a huge testament to just how influential Pokemon GO and Niantic are.

At the same time, it’s a little bit macabre that Niantic is spawning the much-sought after sea monster Pokemon in zones that were ravaged by Tsunamis. What with all the extra tourism dollars flooding in (no pun intended), though, it is unlikely anyone will complain.

The event will continue through November 23.

[Featured Image by Igor Zhuravlov/iStock]