Pokemon Go-ing Away
Is the number one app of the summer losing its popularity?
October 19, 2016
Pokemon Go! is without a doubt one of the most popular mobile games of the summer. It was number one for both the Top Grossing and Top Free games from release to August 20th, when it slipped to number 2 for Top Free games. From a game play stand point the early success of the game makes complete sense. It has a high ratio for play time to pay off in the form of catching new Pokemon.
However, due to the finite number of Pokemon it becomes more and more difficult to get the payoff in the form of new Pokemon. This creates a system as to when a Pokedex nears completion there is a lack of new Pokemon to find and the user gets quickly bored. Unlike other Pokemon games there are no other fleshed out mechanics in Pokemon Go! other than catching Pokemon to keep one busy until they obtain new Pokemon. I will give it credit in the fact the turf war mechanic with teams keeps people coming back to the app, but the battling is so flawed that actually taking a gym is more trouble than it is worth. Statistics provided by thinkgaming.com shows that Pokemon Go! is on its inevitable decline.
The URL of that statistic is:
https://thinkgaming.com/app-sales-data/130634/pokemon-go/from/2016-07-13/until/2016-10-19/