• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Pokemon Go Loses More Than 15 Million Daily Users in a Month

I only got into the game about a month ago, and I still play it every once in a while, but it did get me to go back and play Pokemon Yellow on my 2DS, lol. Just beat the Elite Four last night actually.

In terms of numbers, that might be a huge drop, but about a week ago I went to a park in my area, and there were literally hundreds, if not a few thousand people playing Pokemon Go at this one spot...so I think it's still pretty popular.
 
The game lacks endgame depth. No trading, no battling against your friends, etc. They added the worst mechanic (IVs) because it's the one that will fuck you the most with RNG and will make you waste endless hours to get that perfect Pokemon.
 
I'm on and off but honestly I do the same routes everyday with work etc and there is nothing new to keep me going.

If they mixed it up a little on locations so I would get new Pokemon or even a variety that would keep me engaged more
 

souffe

Neo Member
To be honest it lasted way longer than I had anticipated. It's what happens when you remove functionality over time instead of adding new things.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
It can only go down, and I'm starting to notice local gyms changing hands less frequently. My coworkers and I are still playing it, albeit a little less then before.
 

Rising_Hei

Member
I got bored after 3 days (it made me walk slower, do not like it!), i'm surprised it still has that many players playing it.
 

Iced Arcade

Member
If you don't live in a major area, the game gets boring. Pokestops are few and far between and seeing nothing but rats and sparrows is boring as shit too. Suffers from beng stail.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
I'm certainly not an expert, but isn't that actually a pretty good retention rate for a mobile game? Especially one with such an insane early adoption?
 
I feel like I've caught all the pokemon that are possible for me to get in my hometown, so I haven't opened the app in almost two weeks. I'm not motivated to travel around just to find new pokemon, but if I happen to go on vacation at some point, I would probably look to see what I can find.

I might come back to it if they add trading/battling with friends.
 

Mega

Banned
I'm not surprised. The game becomes more annoying to play the more time you commit to it, like it's encouraging you to quit. I don't see anyone around here playing it anymore and I no longer see scenes like this around here either:

qhbO0DWl.png
 
I don't think this was unexpected at all. When there's a new fad (or even a new popular mobile app/game out) it's always gonna drop off. What'll be interesting to look at is to see how long this will go on. Is it gonna continue going down over the next 3, 5, 8 months?

I think what will also be interesting to see (if it's even possible) is how it's driven other businesses up. The people that had Pokemon Go promotions, the sale of Pokemon games, the sales of Pokemon merch in general...all of it is likely up I'm guessing.

I'd like to see what becomes of the Go Plus. If they would have launched in July they probably would have capitalized on the largest audience they're ever going to have. Launching in September....it's probably going to be a fraction of it.
 

KingBroly

Banned
I still play it whenever I go out. The catch rate bug and not allowing Pokestops/Gyms to be added is hurting its' longevity in my opinion. Also some Pokemon are extremely rare in certain areas, so people are likely to stop playing if they can't get the ones they want soon when they're facing an army of Pidgeys and Ratattas.
 
I yearn for those precious times of yore when there were about fifty Pokemon Go threads posted a day here on average.

Oh wait, no I don't.
 

Ishida

Banned
I'm one of the ship jumpers.

Shit got so boring after a while. I abandoned it when the whole catching rate "bug" began. I had not time for that bullshit.
 

Havok1313

Member
I played a lot, but yea I'm basically done with it.

Imagine how many people would be playing if it was actually a good game.

Hopefully it will be a kick in the ass for them to actually add depth to the battling and have a better curve to the progression of collecting pokemon. I'll gladly play it more in the future if they can improve it enough.
 
Let's fix the damn game and make it fun for everyone that does not live in the centre of a city, before thinking about Gen 2.

This would help. I live in the middle of nowhere where there's only 2 pokestops in several mile radius, and I'd net maybe 3-4 pokemon a day. That's just not fun, especially when it's 90% pidgeys.
 

Tryxx

Member
Everyone said I was a hater when I was telling everyone give it 3 months and game will be dead. There is only so much someone can go around catching the same Pokemon that absolutely mean nothing in the long run because there is no real battle system. An amazing Pokemon holding a gym can be taken down by a shitty Pokemon just have to sit there and keep fighting it until you reduce the points wtf is that shit?
 

EL CUCO

Member
No desire to grind the ridiculous amount of XP you need to level up once you pass 20. I now only open the app when I'm bored, since there is no reliable tracking available anyways.
 

Shadoken

Member
So its like any other video game then.

Please tell me how COD or Destiny online user base remained at 100% of launch numbers , a month after release.
 

axisofweevils

Holy crap! Today's real megaton is that more than two people can have the same first name.
Expected. It's still the top game in 50 countries though.
 

True Fire

Member
I'm certainly not an expert, but isn't that actually a pretty good retention rate for a mobile game? Especially one with such an insane early adoption?

Good retention for a month? The game hit its fad peak almost immediately. Not a good sign. Even FarmVille had longevity.

So its like any other video game then.

Please tell me how COD or Destiny numbers remained at 100%, a month after release.

You can't be comparing a mobile game with paid AAA shooters, come on. They're designed to make all of their profit in pre-orders/launch. Pokemon GO's profit model is in its longevity--and there's no whaling opportunities to exploit.
 
I think they could bring that playerbase back if they work on a substantial update and advertise it as a new version that's coming out on X date.
 

Fishlake

Member
For a 15million drop off I'm surprised it is not that steep. Looks like it will even out soon before a major update like battles an trades and some people will check it out again.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Good retention for a month? The game hit its fad peak almost immediately. Not a good sign. Even FarmVille had longevity.


t.

Ok, but isn't its leveling off point still insanely high?
 
Probably the worst developer I've ever had the pleasure of playing their game. So many stupid choices and they pretty much incited a riot against those people they gave a legendary bird to.
 

Jayhawk

Member
Hard to tell how many of those accounts are the fake accounts used by all the various tracking applications and websites that get banned regularly.
 

Par Score

Member
This is a staggeringly high retention rate for an app like this.

Putting some sort of negative slant on these amazing figures is ridiculous.
 
A third of 100 million users is nothing after the initial hype fade. Still, hopefully this is a wake up call for Niantic (probably not).
 
It will obviously wind down more as summer starts to end and school starts. But around next spring with possible updates of battling and new generations of Pokemon I don't think things are exactly bleak for this game.
 
Top Bottom