Revisiting Pokémon Go in 2020

When Pokémon Go was released in 2016, it was a cultural phenomenon, breaking the Guiness World Record for highest first month revenue of any mobile game ever by bringing in $207 million. (Swatman, 2016). It was truly the summer of Pokémon. But summer soon gave way to winter, and Pokémon Go’s meteoric rise was followed by an equally dramatic fall. By December 2016, Pokémon Go’s United States playerbase had fallen from 28.5 million in July to just 5 million trainers (Farooqui, 2017). This was due to the fact that the game had little to offer upon its release aside from actually catching Pokémon. There were gyms where you could battle, but aside from that there wasn’t much to do with your collection of monsters. There was no system for trading with friends or battling other trainers. In addition, players could only catch the original 151 Pokémon at the time. The game was largely forgotten to the general public, but for game developer Niantic and the Pokémon faithful, the journey had just begun.

One of the first additions that Niantic made to bring players back was raid battles, which allowed trainers to battle legendary Pokémon and catch them with their friends. This brought a lot of excitement to a game that many thought had grown stagnant in its first few months. This change was followed shortly by the all-important friend code. Much of the appeal in Pokémon games has always been the ability to battle and trade with your friends, and this addition was a huge part of ensuring the game’s long-term success. With the ability to trade, players were able to obtain new Pokémon that evolved by being traded, and exchange rare Pokémon to fill out their Pokédex. The incorporation of battles meant that players actually had a reason to keep catching new and more powerful Pokémon. The friend system also gave players the ability to send each other gifts, contributing to the player’s resources as well as the game’s sense of community.

That sense of community has been paramount in bringing Pokémon Go back into the spotlight. An example of this is the aptly named Community Day, which gives players the chance to catch rare or popular Pokémon, as well as their shiny versions which are usually extremely rare (there is less than a 0.1% chance that any random encounter is a shiny). If one visits an area with a lot of Poké stops on a Community Day—or any day for that matter—they are likely to meet other trainers and possibly make some new friends. More Poké stops and gyms are being added all the time, and when a player reaches the max level—level 40—they can now suggest Poké stops to the developers.

The game has also included field research, which gives the player defined tasks and rewards for completing them. This finally gave the player clear-cut short and long-term objectives, which helps the game not become repetitive. The Niantic team has also been steadily incorporating the later generations of Pokémon as well, to the point where trainers can now catch most of the Pokémon that exist today—including mega evolutions. They’ve even added IVs (individual values) for less casual players, and a swath of items that can be used to train your Pokémon. More recently, the game has added some pandemic-friendly features that make the Pokémon come to you so trainers can play from the comfort and safety of their homes. It is clear that the Niantic team has been attentive to their player base over the past four years, and that effort has paid off, with the game bringing in $894 million in 2019—beating its 2016 revenue for the first time (Chapple, 2020). The hype is gone, but Pokémon Go is as popular as ever. 

-Joseph DiPietro

Swatman, R. (2016, August 10). Pokémon Go catches five new world records. Retrieved September 22, 2020, from https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2016/8/pokemon-go-catches-five-world-records-439327

Farooqui, A. (2017, April 04). Pokemon Go Daily Active Users Drop By 23 Million. Retrieved September 22, 2020, from https://www.ubergizmo.com/2017/04/pokemon-go-daily-active-users-drop-23-million/

Chapple, C. (2020, January 9). Pokémon GO Has Best Year Ever in 2019, Catching Nearly $900 Million in Player Spending. Retrieved September 22, 2020, from https://sensortower.com/blog/pokemon-go-has-best-year-ever-in-2019-catching-nearly-900m-usd-in-player-spending