Pokémon's Dilemma: 4 Reasons Why People Stopped Playing Go So Fast (3 ideas to recapture that)

“Pokémon is very different from other games I like- it is more mindless yet addictive” quoted Divya, who is Postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley. Divya is an avid mobile-games-player, some of her all-time favorites are plants vs zombies, where is my water, cover orange and other strategy/ puzzle games. Yet she fell into the trap of ‘Pokémon Go’ fad through word-of-mouth from her friend-circle. Divya is way past the level 25 and has over 130 Pokémons in her pokedex. Her interest level soon faded when she had to drive too far to catch ‘hard-to-find’ magikarp or growlithe. And so happened with other game players.

Introduction

The fame associated with Niantic augmented reality mobile game, Pokémon Go, plummeted soon, before one could even imagine. The game was launched with a lot of gung-and-ho, by the game makers who wanted to make augmented reality available on a larger scale. The belief was to get people out of their comfort zone into the real world, to become more healthy, meet new neighbors and help kids. Sure, game was definitely able to achieve these values and it was fun watching people from all age groups playing like crazy, be it in office setting or on Embarcadero in San Francisco. “It’s fun to catch new Pokémons, this way we also explored places we had not been to before” quoted Divya. Pokémon Go spent weeks at or near the top of the iTunes rankings for free apps. Now it’s ranked at 30th. According to the latest numbers from app market analyst Apptopia, monthly active users of Pokémon Go plummeted from 50.2 million on August 12 down to 32.4 million on Sept 10. The average session times fell sharply as well, from 6.82 minutes to 5.41. In fact, popularity of the game soon plateaued in mid-July (two weeks since record-setting debut), as was quoted by David Z. Morris, with daily active users and user engagement falling by some 30% from their peaks. So yes, one can definitely say honeymoon period for the game is over. And, I have my doubts on the popularity regain even with launch of Pokémon Go Plus, which is no more than a child-like wrist band. It is too cumbersome to carry the beeper and track when it will blink or vibrate. A consumer has enough of the wearable devices on her hand, especially after launch of latest Apple watch.

There are many reasons behind this fall, that vary anywhere from thoughtful to technical. These are grouped under following business headers:

1.    Technical Issues

a.    Frozen screens- There were a number of bugs reported by players initially. In fact game crashes were so painful, that a player was required to restart the game. Sure, Niantic- a team of 70 tried to be responsive enough. A game that does not work all the time, will un-attract a player no matter whatsoever. This made Pokémon Go, a fundamentally broken game.

b.    Tracker- The in-game tool, to find Pokémon close by, did not work for a couple of weeks. This took a lot of fun out of the Pokémon hunting.

2.    Strategic Business

a.    Decay Curve- This is true for all the app, that fade over a given period of time. Let’s not forget Farmville and Angry Birds. Pokémon Go is doing fine, especially when one knows how App economy works. App Annie has estimated that the game has brought in $530 million in a little over two months. For users who joined in July had a fair 30 day retention.

3.    Customer Interest

a.    Hype/ Fad- As every product has a period of fad, and then consumer plainly is bored. Soon they realize they can’t do much and game is just plain. ’Pokémon Go Gameplay Is Plain Redundant’. Pokémon Go is merely all about catching Pokémon- be it rare or not.

b.    Beginner’s Guide- For new players, there’s no introduction to basic principles and gameplay.

4.    Game Idea

a.    Exponential Difficulty- Pokeballs cost money and Pokémon are harder to catch as you level up, which makes it a niche game only for hard-core gamers. And that is when maximum customer churn happens.

b.    Capturing Gyms- The gameplay centers on capturing gyms scattered around the world, but players have to have leveled their monsters quite a bit. Most gyms are held by monsters of over 1,000 combat power, which one cannot manage to build up over more than a month of casual but fairly consistent play.

c.    Repetitive- As Buzz Feed put it, the game works like this: "Walk around. Find Pokéstops. Gather items. Catch (mostly the same frequently appearing Pokémon). Level them up. Maybe fight in a gym. Repeat." Once the pocket monster is captured (which is definitely a fun part), but after wards there is very little to do with them. And this is true for die-hard game fans as well.

Proposed Ideas

While technical glitches were fixed and still team is working extensively to support the expanded user base in many more geographies. But analysis of other factors, help us understand the basic flaws in order to ‘hook’ the players. Hooked players are the ones which will form a habit of playing Pokémon Go. There are two main factors that game struggle with:

1.    Variable Reward- there is just no incentive for players to play the game again and again. Rewards of the self is soon lost when player reaches higher level. Reward for tribe has no platform to share the respective achievements. Reward of the hunt soon becomes taxing when a player drives far to locate the pocket monster. 

2.    Finite Variability- As Nir Eyal points out- experiences with finite variability become increasingly predictable with use and lose their appeal over time. Pokémon Go has faced with the similar challenge by becoming more and more predictable. By following a structured loop (Walk- fight-gather-catch-level- repeat), players have nothing new to do. Hence they don’t get surprised or amused.

In the same regards, I’d propose following ideas to revive the user growth.

Coupon Redemption

Small businesses, restaurants, pubs, cafes and grocery stores are most busy places in a marketplace. What could be the better incentive to a player if capturing a Pokémon at particular place will reward a coupon of the same. When a player will capture Pokémon at a particular spot- a coupon specific to that place will pop up. This will have details about the deal/ offer, example- Congratulations! Pikachu has opened another coffee for you at this Starbucks. Buy 1 and get 1. Already, small businesses are exploring the Pokémon Lures and increasing prospect of footfall. By capitalizing on this business proposition, Pokémon Go can connect with customer directly. A recent study by Slant marketing suggests that Players are most active in Weekday evenings and Weekend afternoons. These are the times when a person is also actively looking for good food options or hangout places. If game- play is combined with reward of coupon redemption, then it will make them come back often. The research shows that 68% of players say they most often play while “running errands” or “hanging out”. Whether people are already out for shopping or visiting a restaurant, the player can still redeem coupons and use them at a convenience.

• Habit Zone- The concept is derived from the book ‘Hooked’. The habit forming potential is determined by plotting on two factors- frequency and perceived quality. Coupon redemption while playing Pokémon Go will increase the visits to app with internal trigger being ‘Let’s-find-a-deal-in-downtown’. And once the player sees value in the deal and is motivated to try for other places, it will prove to be an accessible feature.
• Variable Reward- Reward for the tribe can be shared across Yelp reviews, that will enable gratification to player for achieving the particular coupon. This particular feature best explains rewards of the hunt- where player practically ‘hunts’ for material goods and feels self-achievement.
• Investment- As more and more this feature is used, Pokémon Go will become smart and get to know its player better. This will increase the likelihood of players returning to use the service. Pokémon Go will offer deals in specific to the taste of its player. Let’s say if a player has a preference of tea over coffee, then app suggests next Pokémon on the tea purchase and so on. These investments are done in anticipation for better rewards in future.

Geo-Location History

A player is going around on embarcadero and looking for Pokémons, once it is caught there is no added advantage. Just Pokémon is caught and leveled up. What if, a player catches Pokémon at particular location and history or fun fact for that spot pops up. Let’s say, a player is in Golden gate park and locates Pokémon in front of tea garden- a new window will pop-up with message- ‘“Chinese” fortune cookies were invented at Golden Gate Park’s Tea Garden, and at Chinatown’s Ross Alley fortune cookie factory, a Rube Goldberg-like contraption turns them out by the dozens.’ The Pokémons can be strategically placed on historical spots. This will serve for everyone from travelers, kids, adults to fun-players. Everyone wants to learn something new, and when combined with learning it will enhance player’s overall experience.

• Infinite Variability- Every new Pokémon has a new bit of history associated with it. Not only player gets thrill to catch Pokémon but is amused to learn something new with every capture.
• Future Idea- This feature can be scaled to use holographic imagery to the user. In future with enough experimentation, company can combine this feature with hologram technology. When a user captures the Pokémon, a 3D projection will pop demonstrating the history and its evolution of that particular spot. It will be like a visual engaging storytelling.

Pokémon Ambush

As outlined in one of the key reasons above, once Pokémon is caught and leveled up there is nothing to do much with Pokémon. Except there is Pokémon gym- these are real-world locations where one can have friendly matches against one’s own team Pokémon, or attack the opponent's Pokémon, which have been deployed there. What if we create a ambush- when one is out there in park, mall or even own home-- one can attack other players Pokémon and organize an ambush. This will be a minimum 2 player game that users can play anywhere they want. This will augment the scalability of use cases for a player. Now one can enjoy the ‘wars’ anywhere they want. The idea is very similar to what kids used to have Pokémon cards long time back- these cards were collected from a bag of chips- and then kids used to gather in one room to fight with them as to whose card/Pokémon is stronger/ has more powers. With Pokémon Ambush feature, players would have another reason to gather in one place- house/ cafe/ pub- and match in real time whose powers are better.

• Variable Reward- This feature satisfies reward from all three perspectives- self, hunt and tribe. Users will have better reason to hunt for higher level Pokémon to satisfy the competitiveness to establish their champion-ess in social setting and hunt for pocket monsters to demonstrate their respective achievements. The feature will not only use the physical part of gaming but help users associate with that.

It is true that Pokémon had its 15 minutes of fame but game is still standing firmly in top charts and generating revenue. As said, every product has its own lifecycle and path of decline. And so is Pokémon, that is struggling with bland user base in repetitive loop. If users are constantly surprised with the new and engaging product features, it will revive the user base. People across different generations loved to be amused with new features- that is what all successful products do in today’s world.