For a while, it seemed that Pokemon Go could have become the most successful mobile game of all time, with its combination of the classic Pokemon franchise and interesting location-based AR features. Unfortunately, now it seems that like many things, Pokemon Go is just a passing trend, with recent tracking data revealing that the game has already lost more than 10 million of its players.
Back in July, Pokemon Go was capable of attracting a whopping 45 million daily users, but just one month later this number has already dropped to a less amazing 30 million. While that’s definitely still a lot of players, the downward trend seems like it will continue with data suggesting that downloads, engagement and daily time spent on the app have all been in decline according to app trackers Sensor Tower, SurveyMonkey, and Apptopia.
Sadly for Pokemon Go, this decline could have been seen coming, as the app has been plagued with numerous issues since day one that for many may be seen as game breaking – most notably the tracking issue and blocking of 3rd party trackers that have made it largely impossible to go out and hunt for Pokemon, with encounters instead left mostly down to chance.
Niantic shows no sign of backing out of the game however, with a new version for both Android and iOS set to release soon which according to the patch notes “will now be able to learn about a Pokémon’s attack and defence capabilities from their Team Leader to determine which of their Pokémon have the most potential for battle.” Sadly there is no sign of any updates or fixes to tracking or the decline in Pokemon appearance in rural areas or capture rates. It seems Niantic will definitely have an uphill battle on their hands if they want to continue to capture the hearts and time of their players.
