The Data Behind Which Pokémon Go Team is Most Popular – And Why

Pokémon Go players must choose one of three teams, but data shows almost half of all users pick one team.

Team Instinct is yellow and has Pokémon Zapdos as its mascot. Team Mystic is blue and Articuno bird as its mascot. Team Valor is red and has Moltres as its mascot. At first, there’s no real difference between these three. But according to Adobe Digital Insights, the research arm of the software group, 43% of players select Mystic, versus only 32% for Valor and just 25% for Instinct.

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Why? Because Mystic is in the middle, says Adobe. It’s not about the colors or the birds or the team names. It’s the same reason people choose the middle of three lanes, the middle of three doors, and often the middle pricing plan along a tier (marketers have used this tactic for ages).

Adobe also released other Pokémon Go insights: 60% of players are male, and the game gets 500,000 mentions on social media, on par with the peak of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014.

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