In the ever-shifting landscape of the video game industry, few franchises have managed to remain as consistently popular over the years as Pokemon. More than two decades after its humble debut on the Game Boy, the series is still one of Nintendo's most beloved and lucrative properties, and that popularity only reached new heights with the release of Pokemon Go. When the game first hit mobile devices in the summer of 2016, it seemed the whole world was once again overtaken by Pokemon fever. Stories of expectant fathers capturing Pokemon while their wives gave birth and athletes referencing the game during competitions dominated news headlines in the weeks and months following its release, and the title itself quickly became one of the most successful mobile applications of all time.

Of course, no game can maintain that remarkable level of popularity forever, and before long, Pokemon Go's began to wane. Thanks in part to the slow rollout of new content and some controversial design changes, the game's active user base declined. It still enjoyed a healthy number of active users in 2017. In June of that year, the game had roughly 60 million monthly players--much fewer than the 100 million it had the previous August, but an impressive number in its own right. Still, it was clear the sway it once held over the public had diminished, and gone were the days when you'd see crowds of people stopping traffic just to capture a nearby Vaporeon.

That wasn't the extent of the problems the game faced in 2017. Its first major live event, Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago, was an unmitigated disaster. The ostensible goal of the event was to encourage players to meet up and capture Pokemon together, but persistent technical issues rendered the game unplayable at the venue. Some attendees even filed a lawsuit against developer Niantic seeking reimbursement for their travel expenses. The entire ordeal prompted the company to postpone several live events that were scheduled to take place across Europe later that summer. Fortunately, future events would go off much more smoothly than the ill-fated Pokemon Go Fest, but it was nonetheless a portentous start for Niantic's plans.
GAMES

How Pokemon Go Recaptured Players' Attention In 2018


In the ever-shifting landscape of the video game industry, few franchises have managed to remain as consistently popular over the years as Pokemon. More than two decades after its humble debut on the Game Boy, the series is still one of Nintendo's most beloved and lucrative properties, and that popularity only reached new heights with the release of Pokemon Go. When the game first hit mobile devices in the summer of 2016, it seemed the whole world was once again overtaken by Pokemon fever. Stories of expectant fathers capturing Pokemon while their wives gave birth and athletes referencing the game during competitions dominated news headlines in the weeks and months following its release, and the title itself quickly became one of the most successful mobile applications of all time.

Of course, no game can maintain that remarkable level of popularity forever, and before long, Pokemon Go's began to wane. Thanks in part to the slow rollout of new content and some controversial design changes, the game's active user base declined. It still enjoyed a healthy number of active users in 2017. In June of that year, the game had roughly 60 million monthly players--much fewer than the 100 million it had the previous August, but an impressive number in its own right. Still, it was clear the sway it once held over the public had diminished, and gone were the days when you'd see crowds of people stopping traffic just to capture a nearby Vaporeon.

That wasn't the extent of the problems the game faced in 2017. Its first major live event, Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago, was an unmitigated disaster. The ostensible goal of the event was to encourage players to meet up and capture Pokemon together, but persistent technical issues rendered the game unplayable at the venue. Some attendees even filed a lawsuit against developer Niantic seeking reimbursement for their travel expenses. The entire ordeal prompted the company to postpone several live events that were scheduled to take place across Europe later that summer. Fortunately, future events would go off much more smoothly than the ill-fated Pokemon Go Fest, but it was nonetheless a portentous start for Niantic's plans.