Pokemon GO was a true global phenomenon when it was first released over two years ago. For a few weeks or months it seemed like everyone with a smartphone was playing the game regularly. However, an overall lack of features and some missteps by its developer Niantic pushed a lot of players away.
While millions still played the game daily, it’s felt like fewer and fewer players pick the game up each day, but that could be changing. Following the announcement of quests and the imminent release of Mew it seems like players are back in a big way, propelling Pokemon GO to the top of Android’s coveted Top Grossing charts.
It’s a big achievement that is almost mirrored on iPhone where the game sits at fifth top grossing app overall, sitting behind just Candy Crush Saga and Fortnite in the game category. These don’t track downloads, of course, so it’s not clear if the game is actually gaining new players or just re-engaging old ones. With how popular Pokemon GO was at first it’s likely the latter, as actually finding new players would be pretty tough.
It’s been clear that Niantic had a long way to go in getting Pokemon GO to where it could be. The game ignited a huge fervor, but once players dove deeper into the mechanics they were pretty light. Raids added a lot in this arena, but players are still waiting on PvP and trading, features that seemed planned but might have been taken off the docket due to various reasons. Daily Quests are the hot new thing, arriving later this week, so watch for more players to get back into Pokemon GO soon.
Published: Mar 28, 2018 03:00 pm