People couldn’t wait for the Pokémon Go launch in India. They were impatient, and excited.
Most of the big fans went ahead and already downloaded the app from a shady corner of the Internet. Even though the date for the official release is unclear, the developers have promised that India will have the application very soon.
But the hype around Pokémon Go is dying and people all over the world are slowly falling out of love with it. According to Survey Monkey, the number of users has been steadily decreasing since 14 July 2016, the largest day for the game when it attracted over 25 million smartphone user
Almost a month later, users are getting quite bored of the game.
Indians are already sick of finding Rattatas lurking around each corner. In the absence of the motivation that comes from finding rare pokémon, why would people travel distances when no success is guaranteed, and the application refuses to make any changes?
Spice Up the Updates Please?
The latest update was greeted with serious flak. Version 1.1.1 of Pokémon Go has removed the three footsteps tracking system, so now you only know that a monster is in the vicinity, but there is no way to gauge how far it is. This makes it even more difficult to catch it!
They also just reintroduced the battery saver mode, which they keep scrapping and bringing back sporadically, leaving users extremely confused. Either way, this update is JUST not good enough!
They added a few aesthetic tweets and made fonts bolder. They have drastically increased the distance within which you can now catch a Pokémon. Uninteresting disclaimers cautioning users against driving or trespassing while playing have been added.
But these aren’t real changes, come on!
What Do We Want to See?!
To begin with, the world really wants to trade! A feature that will allow you to swap with your friends and with people from all over the world would be so great. All the crying over having multiples of the same Pokémon would stop and people could finally have a shot at getting different types of Pokémon.
Nobody wants to go to a Pokémon gym and battle competitively with the people they don’t know anymore! Battling with friends is a feature everybody wants, to add a more personal touch to the game. It reminds us of the good ol’ times where people sat in parks and exchanged tazos and trump cards.
Increased chances of catching Pokémon, more accessible Pokéstops and improved tracking facilities are definitely required to make this game retain its appeal.
Pokémon Go Can Die but Pokémon Won’t
The Pokémon Company that manages the franchise is worth approximately $45 billion. In 2015, it received $2.1 billion in retail revenue accruing only from merchandise.
Pokémon is Nintendo’s second-best-selling franchise, second only to the Super Mario series.
The next series, “Pokémon Sun and Moon,” comes out in November 2016 and will increase the unique Pokémon count from 151 to 722. The video games have sold over 280 million individual units. The cartoon is still on air in its 19th season and over 930 episodes have been produced.
That said, Pokémon as a brand is indelible and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It is too entrenched within the idea of childhood itself.
Pokémon Go, as a game, faces fierce competition from competitors and in order for it to do well, the app needs to be made more interesting than it currently is!
(Source: Business Insider, The Survey Monkey)
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