A summer spent hunting through local neighbourhoods, parks and shops for virtual monsters is now just a hazy memory to most people who downloaded PokémonGo. Four out of five users have long since given up trying to “catch ‘em all”, having stopped playing the mobile video game just two months after it peaked.
One year on from the game’s release, its developer, Niantic, is now trying to renew some users’ excitement with new features, new monsters to catch and live events to encourage more people to get out and log on. But even if this fails to significantly revive the game’s wider popularity, Pokémon Go actually retains a surprisingly large loyal fan base that could sustain the game for a long time to come.
Despite reaching US$1 billion in revenue faster than any other mobile game, the initial hypearound Pokémon Go rapidly gave way to a significant decline in mainstream popularity for several reasons. First, software issues and network availability problems deterred casual players. Getting booted out of the game, or failing to log in at all, turned it from a fun distraction to an irritating chore.
Second, as players began to catch more of the 150 original Pokémon but struggled to find the elusive final creatures, the incentive to play decreased. The routine of catching, evolving and battling the same monsters became just that, routine.
Third, the game became a race for status instead of being about exploring your neighbourhood. Many players used automated accounts to reach the highest levels of the game, making the point of putting in hours of game time to beat your friends redundant.
This last point highlights Niantic’s biggest problem in continuing to develop Pokémon Go: establishing exactly what its players ultimately hope to achieve. And critics claim Niantic has done little to develop the game in any meaningful way.
