{"id":545,"date":"2017-03-05T00:46:48","date_gmt":"2017-03-05T00:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/strawberrycode.com\/blog\/?p=545"},"modified":"2017-03-05T00:46:48","modified_gmt":"2017-03-05T00:46:48","slug":"pokemon-go-isnt-dead-game-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/strawberrycode.com\/blog\/pokemon-go-isnt-dead-game-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9mon GO isn’t dead yet – a game design analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

No, Pok\u00e9mon go isn’t dead yet. Statistically speaking, you probably have installed the game last summer, played a few days, or even weeks, passed a few levels, and stopped. But because you are not playing anymore doesn’t mean that the game is dead. In fact, it is very much alive and still evolving, as I will explain in a second, and the Pok\u00e9mon GO community is very active too. By the way, you know that Gen 2 Pok\u00e9mons are there, don\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

\"Pokemon
Pokemon Go in Shopping Centers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is true there have been ups and downs in the game, and especially a few weeks\/months out in the wilderness from before the Holiday event (around Christmas time) and now (release of generation 2 Pok\u00e9mons). However, it is the only game of that kind out there, on a human and geographical scale*, so I feel it is normal to experiment a bit with the gameplay. Niantic (the game editor) cannot know for sure what will or won\u2019t work before releasing it and testing it at least in some limited areas.<\/p>\n

* Niantic released Ingress a few years back, on a global scale just like Pok\u00e9mon GO, but there weren\u2019t as many players. More Info here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The main argument of the Pok\u00e9mon GO “killers” is that the game has lost millions of players, so no one is playing anymore. Well, right and wrong! It is true that Pok\u00e9mon Go has lost a lot of players in the past few months, but its retention rate is the same than any other mobile game. It is the usual install-engagement-retention problem. The game has lost a huge amount of players, but the number of installs was stratospheric too (100+ million installs worldwide in less than a month).
\nAnd yes, there are still Pok\u00e9mon Go trainers playing these days, even before the release of Gen 2. They aren\u2019t as easy to spot as they were before, but they are still playing, especially during the events.<\/p>\n

Game updates and events<\/h2>\n

Speaking of events and the evolution of the game, Niantic has worked a lot over the past few months to improve the game balance and the keep the interest and retention on a steady level by slightly changing the game mechanics. Even if Niantic is not known to communicate a lot with the players, their actions prove that they are listening to us, players, and looking at how we play.<\/p>\n

Here are examples of game updates from the last few months: <\/p>\n