After its phenomenal growth over the last few weeks, the perhaps inevitable first dating site for players of Pokemon GO has just been released.
PokeDates is a dating service that lets singles explore their city with someone new, while playing Pokemon GO.
The product was built by Chicago-based dating startup Project Fixup, a company that brings together online dating and matchmaking, finding singles hand-picked matches to go on a date with.
Speaking about its new Pokemon service, Project Fixup co-founder & CEO Sarah Press said: “Project Fixup is known for creating tailored dates that enable people with similar interests to do something fun together in the real world.
“As soon as Pokemon Go launched, we knew it was a perfect fit for our users; Pokemon Go enthusiasts and new members alike.”
The startup’s new venture follows a similar model to Project Fixup – singles first write a quick bio on PokeDates, giving details about who they are looking for, and the company then reviews the profile.
After the account is confirmed, members then simply input their availability and the PokeDates team starts searching for a nearby match.
The Pokemon dating service then coordinates all the details, sending users an email with information about their “PokeMatch”, along with a time and place to meet at a nearby PokeGym or PokeStop meeting point.
Dank Korenevsky, Chief Fixup Officer at Project Fixup said: “Our service is like your best friend fixing you up with someone they think you’ll like. Except we know more people than they do, listen to what you’re looking for without injecting our own opinions, and happen to know all the best bars, coffeeshops, and in this case PokeStops.
“People dating online are spending more time online than out there dating, and since it all comes down to human chemistry, we wanted to cut out all the steps between signing up to a service and going on a date.
“Browsing, swiping, messaging back-and-forth starts as fun and exciting and turns into a huge time-suck. PokeDates and Project Fixup give people their time back and turns online dating into offline dating.”
The first PokeDate is free, but after this each date is $20, although members can earn more PokeDates by referring their friends.
Pokemon GO has seen unbelievable growth this month, being downloaded on more Android phones in the US than Tinder after one day, and registering more DAUs that Twitter a week later.
Read more about the game and its success here.