Pokemon Go was an absolutely terrific success when it had come out. The principle differentiator between Pokemon Go and similar apps is that the collaboration between Niantic and Nintendo that used the GPS capabilities on phones to “locate, capture, battle, and train virtual creatures, or Pokemon, who appear on the screen as if they were in the same real-world location as the player.” Pokemon has been a major part of most user’s childhood and gained its fame primarily from the initial popularity caused by the nostalgic memories many users had when they were children.
But, the fame was quite short-lived. By mid-September, the daily downloads had declined from a peak of 27 million to 700,000, showing the rapid decline in traffic Pokemon Go had generated from its release to today. The daily revenues of Pokemon Go had also dropped from an initial $16 million to under $2 million today. Pokemon Go has been following the general trend of most mobile apps, in that it has been branded as a “fad.” The main reason Pokemon Go had declined so much was the removal of popular features such as the “Pokemon tracking,” which lost the functionality of the visual tracking of Pokemon. Many people became discouraged from participating in this game anymore and lost interest altogether.
But recently, Niantic has formally announced a new update and the addition of over 80 new Pokémon. Specifically, the new update included these several features:
- Over 80 additional Pokemon originally discovered in the Johto region can be caught.
- Gender-specific variations of select Pokemon can be caught.
- Added new encounter mechanics.
- Added Poke Ball and Berry selection carousels to the encounter screen.
- Added two new Berries.
- Added new avatar outfit and accessory options.
- Added new night-mode map and encounter music.
- Added bonus Candies for catching Evolved Pokemon.
- Implemented Apple Watch connection stability improvement.
- Various bug fixes.
- Minor text fixes
Niantic has made several small changes as a precursor to a much larger change that is coming very soon. Eventually, Niantic is looking to add new Pokemon from Gold and Silver along with over 80 new Pokemon, including starters Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile. This major update is said to be available in-game before the end of the week, but there is no new sign of the update. Furthermore, Niantic has also recently announced the future release of trading and player-versus-player battles are coming in the immediate future.
In an attempt to revive Pokemon Go, Niantic is releasing new features that should’ve been released much earlier. Instead of creating new updates now, Niantic would have been better off if it had left the original and unbroken features of the game alone, which would have prevented such a traffic loss. Users have been asking for trading and player-versus-player battles for a very long time and the wait has proven to be too long for most users to handle. As a result, Niantic’s chances of coming back from its rapid decline with an update that adds more Pokemon without any additional game-changing features.
Pokemon Go’s initial popularity has quickly died down and people have lost the nostalgic feelings that had brought them to the game in the first place. With a new update, Niantic has confirmed continues support of the Pokemon Go community, so there will be more traffic in the game, giving Niantic time to add more updates that may eventually attract more players to come back and retry the game.
Featured Image via Pixabay
