Pokemon Go Craze Hits New York City (Photo : Getty Images)
Is Pokemon Go going the way of Angry Birds and Candy Crash? Latest indicate the month-long popularity of the virtual reality game is on a downward trajectory.
Headline & Global News reported that the use base for Pokemon Go has contracted, citing a report from the website ComicBook based on a new SurveyMonkey Intelligence poll. The game’s use base went down over 20 percent from its peak usage in July.
At its peak of less than 40 million weekly average users, or the number of players who play the game at least once a week, in the U.S. in July has dwindled to just more than 30 million, equivalent to a 22.7 percent decline.
At its peak, the retention rate for Pokemon Go was almost 60 percent in mid-July. The almost 23 percent drop in users could be used by critics of the game as an indicator the game is only a fading fad. However, Verto Analytics pointed out that even the most popular mobile games could keep only about 30 percent of gamers a week after the game was first downloaded.
A month after installation, the average retention rate of most mobile games goes down to 15 percent, reported ComicBook. So far, Pokeman Go’s average download is at 400,000 daily. Despite the drop in retention rate, Niantic and Nintendo are still earning more than $2 million daily in the U.S. which makes Pokemon Go – despite the lesser number of users – still the top game worldwide, for now.
The gaming website advised Niantic that it the company wants to avert the decline in users, it must continue to find way “to keep players engaged as they fill up their Pokedex and run out of places to explore in their community.”
