Pokemon Go the Future of Gaming, Says Former Bears DL Idonije

Israel Idonije played in the NFL for over a decade with the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and most notable, the Chicago Bears. In our hearts and minds he’ll always be a Chicago Bears. This past weekend Idonije made a guest appearance at the Indican Pictures Comic-Con booth to promote his comic book ‘The Protectors’.

The idea was something Idonije came up with a few years back, which has garnered the attention of many major athletes, all of whom dream of being featured in the innovative comic book, which combines the two idols of children worldwide, superheroes and sports.

We had an exclusive conversation with Israel Idonije that covered a whole host of topics including the comic expo vibe, his comic book series, the creative process behind it, and a little bit of Chicago Bears talk. Perhaps most noteworthy however was the discussion of the uber-popular Pokemon Go series (full audio of the entire interview is below, Pokemon Go talk begins around the 9 min mark).

Pokemon Go is by far the most popular thing in pop culture right now, and Idonije believes Pokemon Go is a good representative of what the future of gaming will be.

Apple on Friday confirmed Pokemon Go was downloaded more times in its first week than any other app in history.

In its first week, more people downloaded the app that have downloaded Tinder in the whole history of the existence of Tinder!

“It’s out of control, you’re not kidding,” Izzy said.

“It’s exciting one, because it speaks to the future of gaming, people want this mixed reality, and it’s just setting a whole new precedent for the mainstream.”

https://soundcloud.com/p-m-banks/ex-bears-dl-israel-idonijie-talks-c2e2-pokemon-go

App analytics company Sensor Tower said earlier this week that the app from Nintendo and Niantic has been downloaded more than 30 million times on iOS and Android and has earned more than $35 million in revenue. It’s used more daily than some of the world’s most established apps, including Facebook.

And financial firm Needham on Wednesday estimated Pokemon Go could add $3 billion to Apple’s sales over the next 12 to 24 months.