Is Pokémon Go just a fad?

Question

Is Pokémon Go just a fad?

Answer

Pokémon Go has seen massive interest, with over 10% of both the UK & US population downloading and playing the game since its release in July. And with approximately 80% of these users still playing the game on a weekly basis, the game’s popularity would appear to be maintained, however, how long this will last remains to be seen. (YouGov 2016)

While it is obvious that the game will begin to lose players, like any other game that launches with such popularity, this will not be seen as a problem for the developers as it is likely this drop off will be caused by people who downloaded the game out of intrigue rather than genuine interest in the game and as such were unlikely to ever stay with the game long-term. Following this, the fad will likely start to die down with less media coverage and fewer groups located around ‘lure modules’ in public areas. The game won’t completely die off, but this level of interest cannot be maintained forever.

The future of the game’s popularity currently hangs in the balance and will almost entirely depend on the games update schedule and whether the updated content will be enough to keep players involved. One month into the release of the first generation and people have already completed the entirety of the game by either capturing all the available Pokémon or reaching the maximum level currently available in the game. The speed in which players’ interaction will decrease will likely rest on the addition of new features, trading and player versus player battling being prime examples.

Once these have been included and the game is effectively complete, it should maintain a strong staying power within the market as it already has 6 more established Pokémon generations that it can incorporate within the game to give it continual boosts to attract lost players back. This will both increase the effort and monetary input of hard-core players and bring back players lost by the incomplete game play of the original release. If these lapsed players do return and find a stronger, more complete game when they return, they may well stick around a lot longer than on previous attempts.

References

YouGov. 2016. Pokémon Go: 6 million downloads, 5 million players and 1 million paying users since UK launch. [ONLINE] Available at: https://yougov.co.uk/news/2016/08/12/pokemon-go-six-million-downloads-five-million-curr/. [Accessed 23 August 2016].