Lol people are acting like we haven't already been told about the content that is coming ... plus you have all the following generations to add in -- there is a ton they can add to keep people interested. But, they have to complete the launch first and get the damn servers stable.
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Pokémon Go: unprecedented retention, 2x the average ARPDAU, higher than Candy Crush
- Thread starter maxcriden
- Start date
SinCityAssassin
Member
I would normally advocate the wait and see, but this is still notable. Outright out of the gate top grossing app for a week just doesn't happen often. Being number 1 in multiple countries in the span of a day doesn't happen often. It's noteworthy.
thechristoph
Sir!
Doomed.
But even if Pokemon Go is deleted by Niantic by tomorrow morning and the servers no longer work, it would still be rightfully so be called a phenomenon because of how quickly it catched on and how it made people go out in hoards to catch the little bastards. All the stories, all the hype, the small business and churches taking advantage of it. Some of the things it did and is still doing are unprecedented.
Longevity is just going to be the final test, but the game is already, for all intents and purposes, a HUGE success.
Man Called Aerodynamics
Member
The sooner they get head-to-head fighting into the game, the better. Because it does seem that unless you live in a very out-of-the-way place, within a few days every gym is going to be dominated by the highest level players and it's going to be impossible for new people to break into it.
MatrixMan.EXE
Member
Not really. I think it's incredible that Pokemon has captured the public's imagination in such a big way. It's like being back in the 90's, but it has yet to prove that it has legs both in downloads and user retention. It's been out for a week, and yet people are saying it's all sorts, even going as far as to say this is proof NX will do well.
It defies logic, and it's perfectly okay with people to be cynical. Pokemon Go has yet to prove itself.
Yup. Also the kind of game this is means the novelty wears off after a little bit. It's really up to niantic to deliver updates consistently to keep people from getting tired of it. Let's hope they can do it.
Expecting people to keep taking daily walks, especially after they stop catching new pokemon, is a bit unreasonable. It'll still acquire more users, and it'll still get played for over a year, but I wonder what the plateau of the userbase is. I know I plan on at least checking in casually after a few months (at gas stations, etc). I honestly don't think i'll keep taking daily walks forever, especially when it's all rattatas and pidgeys.
I'm still hoping that Pokemon Go and future Nintendo Smartphone Games will be released on Windows Phone
SinCityAssassin
Member
I'm still hoping that Pokemon Go and future Nintendo Smartphone Games will be released on Windows Phone
Ingress was never on a Windows Phone so I soy title ever get remade for it.
Yeah man I have others ready to evolve as well to add to me Dex just collecting so I can lucky egg. Level 18 btw.
it's not "pretty big". It's the biggest mobile game ever released beating Candy Crush and Clash of Clans... longevity is meaningless in the context of what's actually being reported. It could drop off in 2 months from now, but that still won't have taken away from it being the biggest mobile game ever released, and likely no game coming anywhere close any time soon.
there are a bunch of players, and they all see money from it.
Nintendo (with both a stake in TPCi and Niantic)
Google (with both a stake in Niantic as well as Play revenue split)
Pokemon Company (staked by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures)
Niantic (staked by google and Nintendo)
Apple (App Store revenue split)
Much bigger than Miitomo, but nice try.
For sure! There are going to be so many and possibly from a lot of IPs. I can totally see Disney trying to get into this area.
When Pokemon Go is released completely worldwide, especially China, they are going to bank so hard.
Reptars Revenge
Member
Damn man that's impressive. Do you have a pic of your pokedex? I have to show my friends. They are celebrating catching 50
depends on the winter TBH. a mild day/week and I don't see why it would eliminate usage in the deep north. not to mention niantic can specifically do promotions and events to capitalize on slow months.
no you won't have kids biking around 10 miles in Wisconsin.. but the kids still go to McDonalds in the winter. wink wink.
Does it need to? With over 20 mllion daily active users in the U.S. alone my math puts it at $5 million/day just from America. Meanwhile, global demand is high and European rollouts continue.
They're going to make up for the Wii U gen in a matter of weeks.
Release a single Articuno into the wild during winter and problem solved.
But 2/2 doesn't equal 2...
Interesting article, I would've like to see its retention rate compared to Candy Crush as well. I'm glad the app is very successful, though I didn't enjoy the game.
Lord of Ostia
Member
What I'm more curious to see is if the game has any effect on the 3DS releases later this year. Obviously Pokemon Go is a success on its own, but I wonder if Nintendo's strategy of using mobile products to drive people towards its traditional game projects will actually work.
It's too early to tell, but people are *going* to start dropping off. Maybe not permanently, but maybe they don't play every day like they are now. I adore the game, I plan on playing for as long as it remains fun, but the loops grows smaller and smaller the more I catch pokemon I already have and don't want. It needs stuff to stay fresh. It definitely has weeks, if not months left in it, but not at this peak. Most the people getting it are getting it to see what all the buzz is about. I doubt most of them will play for longer than a week.
Will it still be HUGE? Absolutely. Will it stay this insanely popular forever? Don't think anything can, to be honest.
This game is basically a 'best case scenario' for 'can a mobile game sell a dedicated hardware game?' If they advertise for sun/moon within the game on top of this just raising brand awareness, then I can see sun/moon surpassing X/Y by a fair bit.
The Horror the horror
Banned
It's already proven itself.
Nothing else comes close to this. Other publishers would murder to have this type of popularity and publicity even for a week.
grtkbrandon
Neo Member
Not super surprising. It appeals to the nostalgia of the masses and has a major social component outside of the game itself which is fueling the flames.
dark_chris
Gold Member
Sleight of Jam
Banned
Agree 100%
Metal Khaos
Member
All depends on the type of content updates they put out. Considering there are over, what, 740+ pokemon right now, with only 151 out in this version, they have a nice long stream of new 'mons to release.
Hopefully they eventually add in player battles, trading, shiny pokemon and so forth. That will keep people playing.
Ways to keep it going:
Add trading for more social engagement (already planned). Add pvp battling, as well. Award EXP and items for both (balls, potions, revives, etc).
Create buzz with "legendary raids" requiring teamwork at the same place and time (like the bit in the live-action trailer where everyone fights Mewtwo at NYC Times Square).
Phase in more Pokemon: Keep the original 150 constant, but rotate in subsequent gens alongside them, in seasonal waves. Example: The month of August = Gen 1 + Gen 2. The month of September = Gen 1 + Gen 3. The month of October = Gen 1 + Gen 4. And so on.
More Pokemon = more variety, less duplicates. To balance for less duplicates, lower the cost of evolution (less candies and stardust), and increase number of candies received for catching and transferring Pokemon.
Add shiny Pokemon for more social media buzz when people post their rare finds. Add gender differences for yet more variety.
Pokemon Amie: Pet and feed Pokemon to build affection and bond, which lowers the cost of powering up and evolving.
Add Facebook, Twitter and Instagram integration, in app, so people can post screenshots directly to social media.
...there are all kinds of ways they can maintain interest.
Add trading for more social engagement (already planned). Add pvp battling, as well. Award EXP and items for both (balls, potions, revives, etc).
Create buzz with "legendary raids" requiring teamwork at the same place and time (like the bit in the live-action trailer where everyone fights Mewtwo at NYC Times Square).
Phase in more Pokemon: Keep the original 150 constant, but rotate in subsequent gens alongside them, in seasonal waves. Example: The month of August = Gen 1 + Gen 2. The month of September = Gen 1 + Gen 3. The month of October = Gen 1 + Gen 4. And so on.
More Pokemon = more variety, less duplicates. To balance for less duplicates, lower the cost of evolution (less candies and stardust), and increase number of candies received for catching and transferring Pokemon.
Add shiny Pokemon for more social media buzz when people post their rare finds. Add gender differences for yet more variety.
Pokemon Amie: Pet and feed Pokemon to build affection and bond, which lowers the cost of powering up and evolving.
Add Facebook, Twitter and Instagram integration, in app, so people can post screenshots directly to social media.
...there are all kinds of ways they can maintain interest.
Man Called Aerodynamics
Member
Just speaking for myself, this game has been hitting my nostalgia buttons so hard, I decided to go ahead and preorder Moon. The last Pokemon game I played before this was Pearl.
Metal Khaos
Member
I think it would be a cool idea if they had seasonal/time changes as well into the mix as well. Forget the one type off-hand, the one deer-type. Have different colors depending on the seasons. Adds in another level of depth to collecting.
Dark Cloud
Member
If they do weekly events or maybe every two week events for a group of people to come together to catch a legendary Pokemon would help keep the game going. They have to create events for people to go to
This made no sense.
This made no sense.
He's saying Pokemon GO is hot because it's fresh. He's suggesting the "pizza" will be "cold" in the near future.
Who knows. Personally, I think GO will last significantly longer than most think.
Dark Cloud
Member
Still makes no sense. Then why isn't every single mobile game doing this? Why didn't all the other Pokemon mobile games do this? This is unprecedented for this time span regardless. People are trying their hardest to find a way to downplay something so successful that it's impacting the presidential race.
Of course Go won't maintain THIS level of popularity.. NO ONE expected this level.
But based on Ingress, with significantly less popularity and insanely less revenue, Niantic has done an incredible job. Toss in roughly $6M per day revenue.. ($4.2M after Apple/Google cut) and Niantic should have more than adequate funding to iron those servers out and get new content to us.
They've gone on record saying their goal is content updates every two weeks or so.
this is exactly what I said a few posts up. Whether this level of success maintains or not, in no way whatsoever does that take away from what the game has managed to do. It has blown up exponentially larger than almost every other mobile title, and has STILL outpaced the few other games that had previously managed to blow up exponentially larger than almost every other title.
It's like saying the Wii wasn't very impressive because it died off three years before 360 and PS3 did. Even though it still managed during those 4 years to end the generation as the leader.
Even if Pokemon Go fades next month, no other game will come even close to these levels of success any time soon.
MatrixMan.EXE
Member
This is a silly argument. What good is this popularity now to Nintendo if the game isn't this popular 1-2 months from now? Not learning how to keep customers engaged is how you go from Wii to Wii U.
As I said, this initial popularity is just incredible, unprecedented, but the real test is if it's still capturing hearts and minds and making boat loads of cash months, years from now. Unless you honestly think Nintendo would be happy with a couple of weeks of intense popularity then a sharp drop off into nothingness.
John Harker
Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
why is it ridiculous?
these people are in the business of making money. This App is the hottest thing in money-making right now. "lets see how high we can take this" is a legitimate way to make money off of a wave (investments, clicks, tune-it, whatever your model is).
except... the popularity and name of Nintendo through the Wii era.. and DS era... is what lead to this to begin with.
Brand recognition and brand engagement isn't a 6-12 month sprint. Companies that think that way rarely even finish. A hit this summer, and a followup next year (Zelda, Pokemon, etc) is how you keep your name held high. Not continually selling the same game for the next 2 years. Those days are LONG over with. Tails like GTA V are... well, they don't exist except for GTA V.
This hitting for even just 3 months (the summer) is enough to say "it succeeded" for Nintendo. In the world of consoles a game staying in the top 10 for three months essentially puts it in the top 10ish of the year usually.. maybe even the top 20ish of the cycle. I don't see why mobile would be any different.
DOWN
Banned
This idea grosses me out. Sucks they can't protect it better.
Ingress is offcially available in the Chinese AppStore. Just had the first official event/quest day in China too. So is Pokemon Shuffle.
Nintendo has already submitted PoGo trademark application in China as well.
We'll see.