What happened to Pokemon Go?

[st.patrick]

How could this go from like the biggest mobile game in the world, to literally a complete laughing stock/taboo subject? Who is still playing Pokemon Go and why? Conversely, why did you decide to stop? I find it all interesting that the change happened within months.

 

[RandomMe]

This should belong in the video games forum.

 

[Vaughn Max]

How could this go from like the biggest mobile game in the world, to literally a complete laughing stock/taboo subject? Who is still playing Pokemon Go and why? Conversely, why did you decide to stop? I find it all interesting that the change happened within months.

I still play it and it's still really popular

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[Light Lucario]

While Pokemon Go certainly isn't as popular as it was during its first few months, I think that calling it a laughing stock or taboo subject is a huge ridiculous over exaggeration. For starters, people still play Pokemon Go. There have been a lot of upgrades to the app, such as Raid Battles, Community Days where specific Pokemon with unique moves are available, missions to capture Legendary Pokemon and including the second and third generations. There was a commercial featuring third generation Pokemon for Pokemon Go during the previous Super Bowl as well.

Just the idea that it's a laughing stock or taboo subject is pretty strange because people within and outside of the Pokemon online community still talk about it. Even people who stopped playing the app have mentioned that those first few months of the app's launch were really nice and allowed for some nice stories to come out. There are still people who play the app, myself included, and it still is pretty popular. Just because it isn't hugely popular anymore doesn't mean that no one wants to talk about it or everyone just laughs at it now. That really doesn't make any sense.

Pokemon Go came around at the right time. The franchise was nearing its 20th anniversary, it featured first generation Pokemon, which would attract a lot of older fans of the original R/B games, and it basically a way for people to live out the dream of catching Pokemon. Despite all of the app's technical issues, being able to find Pokemon just walking around your neighborhood or your backyard was fun and exciting.

As for why it isn't as popular before, that's just the nature of being a fad. It was a huge craze for a few months, but it inevitably would have to calm down. The technical issues the app had certainly didn't help. It was barely a game, there were a lot of glitches and even logging in could be a pain in the neck since the developers were clearly not prepared for Pokemon Go to be such a massive hit.

Like I mentioned earlier, I do still play Pokemon Go. While I do get frustrated some aspects of the app, I still find it something fun I can do while I'm out walking, especially when I don't use my cellular data for much of anything else. I do like some of the upgrades they've made in the attempts to improve the app and it does play much better than it did during its early months. It wouldn't be one of my favorite spin-off titles, assuming Pokemon Go could be called as such, but it's still something fun to do when I'm out.

 

[Gold Guy]

Huh. My brother and father (!) still play it frequently, and they have a lot of acquaintances who play it as well. No, it's not as popular as it was in it's first year, but it's still one of the most played mobile games, and updates are very frequent. The game won't be ending for quite a few years.

 

[Daikun]

The game's appeal and popularity simply waned over time. It happens with all games.

 

[jaylop97]

I never had time to play it in 2016, I remember how it was a big part of that summer. My younger brothers played it a lot and I did take time to at least notice how big was it. Though as soon as the fall session of most schools started that's when it's appeal went down, and my brothers played it less. I do play it from time to time even sometimes these days, and I have friends that do so as well.

 

[st.patrick]

This was the biggest thing anyone in my office talked about, now no one would be caught dead playing it. Even the one guy who was hanging on at the last minute finally caved in and stopped playing. There's just not much replayability (a word?) to it. Things get repetative SO quickly in PG. I get it, some people play it even today, but I am so confused as to why.

 

[Light Lucario]

This was the biggest thing anyone in my office talked about, now no one would be caught dead playing it. Even the one guy who was hanging on at the last minute finally caved in and stopped playing. There's just not much replayability (a word?) to it. Things get repetative SO quickly in PG. I get it, some people play it even today, but I am so confused as to why.

That might be the case for the people in your office, but that clearly doesn't apply to everyone. Pokemon Go still has updates and events frequently, so that obviously means that there are people still playing it and aren't embarrassed by it. I'm not sure if replayability is something people want from an app game or at least if repetitiveness is that big of an issue when most app games are designed to be quick and easy fun. Even at the app's height of popularity, people were still doing the same thing over and over again. They'd catch Pokemon, hatch eggs and go to Gyms to battle/defend them. The popularity lasted for a few months, so I don't think people got tired of it that easily or at least that quickly.

It's also strange to complain about how repetitive Pokemon Go is when that is a common aspect of the franchise. People mainly focus on the anime being repetitive, but the main series games are repetitive too. They usually don't get as much slack for that when the games are more willing to experiment with their formulas compared to the anime, but that doesn't mean that they aren't repetitive too.

I already explained why I still play it, but I'll also add that it can help me to focus on something else while I'm walking. If I get nervous or upset for whatever reason, checking my phone to see if I'm closer to getting another candy with my Buddy Pokemon, hatching another egg or finding another Pokemon to catch to help with the new missions is comforting and relaxing. It can help me take my mind off of whatever is bothering me while I'm out.

 

[st.patrick]

To be fair, even though I'm clearly not a fan of the app at all, it did bring augmented reality to the fore. I don't recall hearing that much about AR before Pokemon Go came on the scene, and apparently, the app is said to have helped in e-commerce. I'm really looking forward to seeing how some other apps and games can harness AR to great effect, as there is no doubt some really cool ways (not just Pokemon).

 

[ZZenigundam]

I knew that was gonna happen!
The funniest thing about Pokemon Go was reading those stories about people getting arrested for going into private property places late at night to get rare Pokemon. Come on dude are you seriously gonna get arrested over Pokemon Go?!

 

[Dudley]

I saw a whole bunch of people show up to catch a Pokemon last week. People are still playing the game, and this is just normal for mobile games. They become super hot and trendy for the first few weeks and everyone talks about it, but then people will just play it and enjoy it quietly. Just like with Candy Crush, or Angry Birds.


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[Light Lucario]

The newest Pokemon games, Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee, can be connected with Pokemon Go. You can transfer Pokemon from Go into the games and instead of battling Pokemon, you throw a Poke Ball with the controllers similar to how it works in Go. That further shows that Go is still popular/successful since I doubt that they would have spent the time needed to develop the games if no one was still playing Pokemon Go.

 

[defunctzombie]

People still play it. In fact, they neglect their children to play it... https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/paris-spider-man-pokemon-go-1202826496/

 

[Gold Guy]

Yeah, if this article is any indication, the game isn't even close to losing steam yet.

 

[Light Lucario]

The most recent update including becoming friends with other players so you can send them gifts and trade with them. Granted, trading is still kind of limited since you can't do that online, but that is a feature that a lot of people have wanted from the start, so that will help attract more people to play Pokemon Go.