{"id":313951,"date":"2026-02-28T02:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T02:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/313951\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T02:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T02:07:15","slug":"ryan-has-spent-thousands-on-the-game-a-decade-after-launch-he-wouldnt-change-a-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/313951\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan has spent thousands on the game. A decade after launch, he wouldn’t change a thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been nearly a decade since Pok\u00e9mon GO burst onto our phones and some Australians are just as obsessed with the game today as they were 10 years ago.<\/p>\n

Ryan O’Hara, 31, from Wollongong is one of them.<\/p>\n

He’s been an avid player from day one and has spent thousands on Pok\u00e9mon GO, and he wouldn’t change a thing.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"RyanRyan O’Hara (right) has been an avid player from day one and has spent thousands on Pok\u00e9mon GO. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“It is not an exaggeration to say that Pok\u00e9mon GO changed the course of my life,” he told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

Released on July 6\ufeff, 2016, the augmented reality mobile game allowed players to catch Pok\u00e9mon on their phones while exploring the real world.<\/p>\n

It caused chaos at first.<\/p>\n

Australians flooded the streets, converging on parks and playgrounds \ufeffwhere Pok\u00e9stops (location-based landmarks that give players items and experience) could be found.<\/p>\n

Hordes of players could be found standing in the dark well into the night, heads bent over bright screens as they battled and \ufeffcaught Pok\u00e9mon.<\/p>\n

O’Hara has fond memories of those early days.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

“\ufeffI remember having a police car U-turn to come back past a group of us standing at a raid together,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We thought we were getting in trouble until they asked us if we were doing a raid and if they could join.”<\/p>\n

During a raid players team up to battle and catch \ufeffstrong Pok\u00e9mon.<\/p>\n

After the initial craze died down many Australians \ufefflost interest\ufeff; not O’Hara.<\/p>\n

In the last 10 years he’s walked more than 23,500km while playing \u2013 equivalent to walking from Sydney to Perth and back three times \u2013 and caught nearly 200,000 Pok\u00e9mon.<\/p>\n

He’s attended countless in-person meetups, become an admin for the \ufeffIllawarra region, and \ufefftravelled interstate for competitive Pok\u00e9mon GO tournaments.<\/p>\n

He even met his wife of three years through the game.<\/p>\n

The sense of community and connection is what has kept O’Hara playing all these years.<\/p>\n

\"RyanO’Hara, 31, from Wollongong has been an avid player from day one and met many friends through the game. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“I’ve gone from a 22-year-old single male when the game was released to a now 31-year-old father and husband,” he said.<\/p>\n

“And I’ve played the game in between all the life changes and challenges.\ufeff”<\/p>\n

O’Hara said the game has also made plenty of improvements over the years, adding new features and hosting more special events.\ufeff<\/p>\n

But the in-game microtransactions can be a drawback.<\/p>\n

\ufeff”I have gone through periods where I was spending money weekly on the in game features,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But I do have long gaps where I will spend little to no money in the game.”<\/p>\n

At the peak of his playing, O’Hara estimates he was spending a few hundred dollars a month on Pok\u00e9mon GO.<\/p>\n

But he was also earning money as a Pok\u00e9mon GO streamer and through competitive tournaments, which offset the cost a bit.<\/p>\n

\"PokémonPok\u00e9mon GO players can exchange real cash for in-game currency to buy items and access extra features. (Pok\u00e9mon GO)<\/p>\n

It’s not the worst way to spend his money either.\ufeff<\/p>\n

“I went from spending my disposable income going to the pub, to spending significantly less on Pok\u00e9mon GO and getting outside and more active,” he said.<\/p>\n

While some players like \ufeffO’Hara have been consistently catching Pok\u00e9mon for the last decade, others rediscovered their love for the game more recently.<\/p>\n

There was a spike in active players during the COVID-19 lockdowns.<\/p>\n

Mitch, 29, from Sydney got back into Pok\u00e9mon GO a few years later.<\/p>\n

Like many Aussies he started playing in 2016 and even used to sneak his phone into his work uniform to track his in-game steps during a shift.<\/p>\n

He lost interest when the initial craze died down but got back into the game in 2022 as way to pass the time while walking his dogs.<\/p>\n

Since then, he’s become a Pok\u00e9mon GO fiend.<\/p>\n

\"MitchMitch (right) got back into Pok\u00e9mon GO a few years ago and has convinced several friends to jump on the bandwagon. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Mitch has caught more than 6500 Pok\u00e9mon, walked nearly 250km while playing (almost the distance from Sydney to Canberra) and has convinced several friends to play as well.<\/p>\n

“They have all become obsessed,” Mitch told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

“Now I spend a lot of time strategically planning out raid days, showing them which Pok\u00e9mon are worth keeping and how to quick catch.”<\/p>\n

\ufeffThis Wednesday Mitch worked from home just so he could take part in virtual Pok\u00e9mon raids during his lunch break.<\/p>\n

He was joined \ufeffby friends who also worked from home or rostered off for the occasion.<\/p>\n

Mitch doesn’t tell many strangers about his passion for \ufeffPok\u00e9mon GO but said the game is a great alternative to spending hours on social media.<\/p>\n

“It’s helped me stay in touch with friends who have moved overseas and makes downtime more exciting than just endlessly scrolling.”<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s been nearly a decade since Pok\u00e9mon GO burst onto our phones and some Australians are just as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[85,46,125,340,341,342],"class_list":{"0":"post-313951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-virtual-reality","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-virtual-reality","12":"tag-virtualreality","13":"tag-vr"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}