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The Almighty Buck Games

Pokemon Go Daily Active Users, Downloads, Engagement Are Dropping (bloomberg.com) 194

Posted by msmash from the surprise-surprise dept.
An anonymous reader writes:Pokemon Go is starting to lose the battle for mobile mindshare, according to Axiom Capital Management. As such, investors and executives at Facebook Inc., Instagram, Tinder (Match Group Inc.), Twitter Inc., and Snapchat can breathe a sigh of relief, says Senior Analyst Victor Anthony. "Given the rapid rise in usage of the Pokemon Go app since the launch in July, investors have been concerned that this new user experience has been detracting from time spent on other mobile focused apps," he writes. Enthusiasm about the potential for Pokemon Go (and augmented reality gaming in general) to improve Nintendo Co Ltd.'s financial performance sent shares parabolic after the app launched in the U.S., and even spurred rallies in secondary plays linked to the success of the game. Data from Sensor Tower, SurveyMonkey, and Apptopia, however, show that Pokemon Go's daily active users, downloads, engagement, and time spent on the app per day are all well off their peaks and on a downward trend.
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Pokemon Go Daily Active Users, Downloads, Engagement Are Dropping More

Pokemon Go Daily Active Users, Downloads, Engagement Are Dropping

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  • You'd not know it was not he decline here in New Orleans.

    Geez, the other night, driving through City Park about 3:30am on a Friday night, the place was packed with people slowly cruising around in cars with their Pokemon playing on their phones.

    It wasn't just there...at major sites all over town all last weekend, I saw a surprisingly LARGE amount of people out all times of day and especially late night playing it...

    • It wasn't just there...at major sites all over town all last weekend, I saw a surprisingly LARGE amount of people out all times of day and especially late night playing it...

      Am I the only one who's reminded of the ST:TNG episode about Riker finding the head-mounted video game on Risa and the whole crew of the Enterprise becoming addicted to it?

    • High abundance of water pokemon?

      • High abundance of water pokemon?

        Absolutely!!! TONS of them, especially if near Lake Pontchartrain....

    • You'd not know it was not he decline here in New Orleans. Geez, the other night, driving through City Park about 3:30am on a Friday night, the place was packed with people slowly cruising around in cars with their Pokemon playing on their phones.

      That wasn't Pokemon. That was Grindr.

  • Take note pointy hair bosses (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 23, 2016 @10:48AM (#52755491)

    Niantic has no one to blame but themselves on this one. First, instead of assuring there was server stability for North America they kept rolling out to new areas resulting in server crashes. During this time anyone that was using lures or eggs or other items were quite livid over the loss of an item they paid for due to the server(s) being down.

    Then came the three-step bug. When it went away, no longer could the average Joe Sixpack juts walk around and find new pokemon. It was an effort in futility made only https://games.slashdot.org/story/16/08/23/1437229/pokemon-go-daily-active-users-downloads-engagement-are-dropping#worse by the choice to ban 3rd party services that would facilitate in showing where the Pokemon were. And then to top it all off was the cheating. I can't take a gym if the Gym-Leader is a bunch of 35 level bots with great pokemon.

    So at a competitive disadvantage, with no real end goal but walking around collecting pidgeys the game was a bust.

    Good try, better luck next time pointy haired managers

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Rinikusu ( 28164 )

      Honestly, as an Ingress player, the first couple I don't mind; those can be solved by adding more servers and issuing credits/refunds. It's the botting/cheating that irritates the fuck out of me. I get it, for a few people, *that* is the game. But for those of us who actually play, it's really a hot button issue. We have the same spoofing/botting in Ingress, but fortunately the game is relatively small and those guys end up getting caught and even ratted on (if they play IRL) by their teamates because w

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Lehk228 ( 705449 )
        I cheat the old fashioned way, drive around hunting pokemon when it's too hot to go out. downside is the cops don't like that shit.

        • I wonder if anyone has worked out spoofing GPS to cheat. I presume that the game uses the phones GPS chip to decide where you are anyways.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Rinikusu ( 28164 )

            yes, this is exactly the sort of cheating I'm referring to. It's also how the bots work, by spoofing their gps coordinates and slowly (if they don' want to get caught) update position as if they're walking/biking. Kinda suspicious when you're in LAX at 3:50PM and taking down a portal in North Dakota at 3:55PM. Either that or you're sitting on the secrets behind teleportation.

    • True, but the problem was that lot's of people was playing the game outside of North America, even before it was released outside North America. So the longer they waited with world release, the larger the difference in level/skill would be between players who know how to sideload the app, and those who did not and thus had to wait for the official release.

      But they still scaled better then twitter(Look at the issues twitter has had with scaling, and Nianic had to scale from 9M users, to larger then twitter

  • In many places, (Score:5, Funny)

    by 31415926535897 ( 702314 ) on Tuesday August 23, 2016 @10:51AM (#52755515) Journal

    School started.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Why is this rated "Funny" -- it's probably the #1 cause...

      • Because most universities are just a billion pokestops on top of each other, you'd think it would increase when people went back to school. Anecdotally it seems like a lot of people are picking it up more whne they get to campus.

        And, being in school involvs a lot of waiting around, walking, etc.

  • Matches my observations (Score:5, Funny)

    by Waffle Iron ( 339739 ) on Tuesday August 23, 2016 @10:53AM (#52755545)

    Over the last couple of months, when I cut through one of the local parks on its bike trail, it's looked like the Night of the Living Dead: A bunch of zombies obliviously wandering around, staring down into their phones and cluelessly blocking the path.

    Lately, the zombie outbreak seems to have abated somewhat, and the bike path isn't so much of an obstacle course.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ogive17 ( 691899 )
      I can't help but think of the tune "Don't Stop me Now" every time I picture a zombie apocalypse.

      We're having such a good time...

    • Consider yourself lucky. I live in the Netherlands and the zombies were on their bikes cycling down the bike trail.

      Just like your experience except with more momentum and more pain when it goes wrong.

  • They've been scrambling not improving (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mouldy ( 1322581 ) on Tuesday August 23, 2016 @10:56AM (#52755577)
    The developers have been scrambling to keep up with demand, they haven't been doing anything to improve the game or keep it interesting since launch.

    The game launched with a very small set of game play mechanics. Since launch, they've removed 1 mechanic (tracking pokemon) and have added nothing .

    If they were capable of keeping their launch-day mechanics in place and weren't scrambling to just keep the servers alive (the reason they removed the mechanic they did) then they could have focused their small development team on improving the game instead.

    The key mechanics in the old pokemon games was battling friends & AI and trading pokemon. If they added those mechanics into Pokemon go, then they might be able to keep the interest going a bit longer.

    Until then, it's collecting things that you can't find. The fun in that wears thin pretty quickly.

  • This is normal for mobile games (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Manmademan ( 952354 ) on Tuesday August 23, 2016 @11:12AM (#52755709)
    The Bloomberg article shows the game being off it's launch peak by 20-25% or so, with a spike in engagement that it doesn't explain a few weeks ago. This is normal for this kind of game- and mobile games tend to make their profit on a small percentage of users that spend a TON on microtransactions (more pokeballs, lures, etc), not in raw user count. The game is likely still wildly overperforming what Niantic expected it to- and there are plenty of features (direct trainer battles, more pokemon) for Niantic to implement to extend the game's lifespan.
  • Did anyone really expect the fad to last?
  • I mean, that is the goal of the game, is it not?

  • Still most downloaded app (Score:4, Insightful)

    by subanark ( 937286 ) on Tuesday August 23, 2016 @11:19AM (#52755767)

    Ok, so you have a really popular app come out. Lots of people try it and like it. Then lots more try it because lots of other people are. This second group doesn't see what is appealing and chucks it. This still doesn't detract from it being popular, or indicate it is doomed.

    E.g. Look at World of Warcraft, now has 1/2 the subscribers it did at its peak a few years ago. Despite this it is still going strong as the most popular MMO.

    • Several million subscribers, at 13-16 bucks (depending on your subscription plan) /month...

      Do the math, it's still a license to print money....

    • WoW has many things Pokemon Go doesn't. If it doesn't change I would predict it is doomed as it follows the same pattern and game design of other games that were doomed:

      1. No strategy or thought required to play.
      2. No skill required and skills don't get improved. Throw a ball at a thing.
      3. Variance is based exclusively on levels and type of pokemon.
      4. The entire mechanic of the game relies on time and collection of the same resource (balls) to keep playing.
      5. There's no end goal, no challenge, no real PvP.

      U

      • 1. It interacts with real life. If you want to hit those poke stops and gyms you have to plan your route.
        2. Throwing a ball correctly requires some skill, which will increase your chance of capture and get more exp.
        3. Nope, individual pokemon in the same species can differ on their stats, even at max level.
        4. This isn't bad (and slightly wrong, as there are things like eggs, lures, potions, ect...)
        5. Your major end-game challenge is trying to hold on to as many gyms as possible.

        In any case, there is enough

  • Is this a surprise? This is probably exactly what the companies behind the game knew was going to happen.

    In other news, fewer people will go and watch Suicide Squad this weekend compared to last.

  • So it's basically like every other popular everything ever? Who would have though.

  • It's because the game has no long term goals (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Vermonter ( 2683811 ) on Tuesday August 23, 2016 @11:39AM (#52755955)
    Unlike Ingress, where there is a continuing story line influenced by how well the two factions are doing, and there is a global score that every player can influence, and an in game chat function so players can interact without knowing each other ahead of time, and the ability for huge operations involving dozens of players and the challenge of organizing such an operation (clearing lanes to make way for linking, capturing or destroying key portals, heading out to some obscure location in the middle of the night and feeling like a secret agent on a top secret mission), Pokemon Go really has very little to offer. On top of that, the tracking feature is not what the players wanted (and had at release). You basically go around capturing gyms, which serves no purpose... the xp gained is not worth the potions you need to use to recover from the attack, so unless you are trying to get on multiple gyms to get your daily rewards, there is little point. You also go around hunting pokemon, which is not multiplayer in the slightest, except for the fact that your friends can do it with you. And you can only hunt so many pokemon before it gets redundant... the xp requirements suddenly grow at a stupidly fast rate once you get to level 20. It is extremely difficult to find new players as there is no way to communicate with them unless you happen to bump in to them. If you live in a place far away from water, you essentially are locked out of some of the badges and pokemon (unlike ingress where all badges are accessible, even while urban play and rural play present different challenges).

    Essentially, Pokemon Go has little to offer once the novelty wears off.

    • >Unlike Ingress, where there is a continuing story line influenced by how well the two factions are doing,
      Doesn't this just make it unlikely for people to want to play Ingress?
      I get the point of Ingress, but it seems extremely pointless.

      Go really doesn't have anything going for it either, but it has 1 core goal: To catch them all. Thats your long term goal. Everything else is a part of the fun journey.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dfm3 ( 830843 )

        Doesn't this just make it unlikely for people to want to play Ingress?

        Not really; I've been playing for several months now and I've noticed that 95% of the players don't really care about the storyline. It's all buried on various websites with DAYS worth of video and media, so most new players don't take the time to read the backstory - and I've never been able to find a "cliffs notes" version.

        But things DO get interesting when the outcome of anomalies (big, meetup style competitive events that are held all over the world) affects gameplay dynamics. The Enlightenment (one o

    • i'm trying to get a gyarados before my brother-in-law. There is some entertainment in that.

      My commute to and from work along the embarcadero in san francisco is loaded with the requisite magikarp. I go into the office a couple times a week, and had determined that I can collect enough over the course of a few weeks. That will beat my brother-in-law, but it is pretty disheartening to overhear groups of people discussing how they are evolving a gyarados a day over there.

      it's pretty clear that there's

  • Great idea, terrible execution.

    No surprise that it started off super popular. Who wouldn't want to relive their childhood Pokemon days, except in the real world? And it is indeed really fun at first. The thrill of catching new Pokemon is a great high.

    But then reality sets in:

    • - Reliability issues. They were not prepared for the popularity and the game was a real bitch to play for a while. Overloaded servers + crappy bugs = frustrating gameplay. Sure, it's "free" but my time is not free and if the experienc

  • Rampant Engagement Problems (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    After my experience with Pokémon Go (and subsequent reduction in playtime), here are the issues as I see them:

    - Too many pop-up messages now preventing gameplay or interfering with it. It's not the game's job to police my actions.
    - Acquisition of Poké Balls is too difficult, even in urban areas, given that as you level up the Pokémon run away more and are more difficult to catch.
    - Fighting at gyms is just a terrible and unreliable experience. The entire battle system needs an overhaul and sho

  • Bye, Pokemon!

  • OK cows, time to go back to your own teat now.

  • Pokemon Go has been cracking down on the bot accounts lately. Are we just seeing how much of this traffic was generated by these automated accounts vs. actual people?

  • It still has its playability (Score:4, Insightful)

    by foradoxium ( 2446368 ) on Tuesday August 23, 2016 @01:05PM (#52756609)

    This is not a game for the "power gamers" who want to level up, get gear, level up, get gear..and win. And I think they are finding that out, they can powergame themselves to have very high CP pokemon and rule gyms but then someone who took 4 times as long to level up and get their pokemon comes up and drops them. It's almost very anti-power gamer..haha!

    They used cheating to get themselves all the best pokemon that they needed, and now they "fixed" the cheats and they cry that its boring? haha

    This is still a very fun casual game that you can play with your family.

    There is something unique to this game in that it solves something that the gaming industry has so far failed to do: encourage exercise and real social interactions. I mean actually interacting with real people, not trolls hidden behind their keyboard with large epeens.

      It encourages you to go on walks, travel, actually interact with the outside world. That's been the biggest thing that this game has done for me and my kids. We now go to different areas and walk around. Sometimes its to parks, sometimes downtown, sometimes to waterfalls, or any other random public place that we typically don't go. How many other games actually encourage being active, and being outside your basement? It's also a bit like fishing, seeing who can get the highest CP pokemon.

      Like it or not the latest generations (at least) sit more and exercise less, and video games worsen that as they encourage the kids to sit in a spot for 10 hours. Whats that? Force them to go outside and play? Some kids really aren't athletic or have a desire to be..and as a parent you could force your kid to exercise but that doesn't really work well. Sure when I grew up I was outside all the time..but then I grew up in a rural town of 28k, where all the housing and streets looked straight out of Leave it to Beaver. My kids are growing up in the inner city, and I'm not so concerned about kidnapping etc. as I am them having to cross dozens of intersections.

    So yes, I'm sure the "fad" will fade a bit as it's newness loses its luster, but considering the unique benefits of the game it still is a fun, cute game that encourages social interaction and physical activity.

    • encourage exercise

      Call it what it is. It get's people out of their seats and outside doing the bare minimum, it does not encourage exercise. In fact I see more people walking past pokemon go players than the other way around.

  • Many of us only downloaded the app to see what was the fuss all about.
    The game is not particularly appellative, the group play is nil, my wife and I wanted to play together, and that really does not work out.
    The pretence of augmented reality is there, but is not the first app using it, and the way they tied it to the game is a joke.
    Plus, if you do not live or work nearby pokestops (I do, at least 4 or 5 pokestops at work), the game is something to forget about. Heck, even with the pokestops at hand, it is
  • just like the bossa nova, disco, macarena.

  • Thankfully, I can do more than one thing (Score:3)

    by enjar ( 249223 ) on Tuesday August 23, 2016 @03:42PM (#52757727) Homepage

    I like playing Pokemon Go. It's something I can do when I have a few minutes to myself. I can also go walk around local parks and attractions with my wife or the whole family. Even my mom thought it was fun. We had a great time on vacation with it, whereas the kids might have complained about "being bored" on a hot day, they loved to go to the park and wander around catching Pokemon. It's a scavenger hunt that you can play alone or with others. I've spent a grand total of $5 on it, which is pretty good for something that provided hours of entertainment.

    It's harder to play when I've got to work, and the kids are going back to school so we don't have as many opportunities to play. I'm betting less people play in the wintertime, anyway, since in many temperate zones you aren't going to want to be outside for hours when it's raining, snowing and generally unpleasant.

    There are many directions they can take this game, and they can add new features like trading, PvP, etc. When new features come out, people can dust off their old accounts and re-engage, just in time for the spring/summer -- or maybe they roll out the features in the winter when there's likely to be less people playing.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      I like checking out the maps to see what gyms, etc. There are tons of stuff I have never seen before! :O

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by enjar ( 249223 )

        Oh, totally. Now when I have a few minutes to kill I get out my phone and roam around rather than just sitting in the car bored. I've found interesting stuff in my town I never knew existed. The other big magic is that it drew my eight year old out on 95+ degree humid summer days to go to the park and get some exercise rather than saying it was too hot and having to drag her there.

  • Nerds getting outside and walking large distances is just not natural: we need to be behind our monitors, inside. However the normal situation is restoring itself. When autumn comes with lots of rain numbers will drop even more.

  • Until you make a game that requires practice and skill to be competitive, you won't have the staying power of games like CS and SC. People have been playing the original CS for over 15 years, and the new games are essentially the same game mechanics repackaged to keep us from buying a game once and playing it for 15 years.

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