Why the Pokemon Go Mania May Be Settling, Game Loses 10 Million Daily Active Users
The Pokemon Go craze is finally reaching an equilibrium. The game had a stellar run while it lasted, but over the last few weeks Pokemon Go has seen a steady drop-off in daily active users (DAUs).
25 August, 2016
TAINAN, TAIWAN - AUGUST 08: A man reads a Pokemon Go article in the newspaper on August 7, 2016 in Tainan, Taiwan. 'Pokemon Go,' which has been a smash-hit across the globe was launched in Taiwan on 6th August. Since its global launch, the mobile game has
The Pokemon Go craze is finally reaching an equilibrium. The game had a stellar run while it lasted, but over the last few weeks Pokemon Go has seen a steady drop-off in daily active users (DAUs).
As of August 18th, Axiom Capital Management reports the app had a little over 30 million DAUs, down significantly from its July 19th peak of slightly under 45 million DAUs. At one point, this app had overtaken Twitter in the United States, but the popular game seems to be settling after the summer hype.
<p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODQwNzkwMi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NTI5MDM1M30.kLJLQaXWLLYTeo0qG3FhGKaiFvmRZiy3Kbuc2oRm3CQ/img.png?width=980" id="70e12" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a62618cfcb2690706162027bff2b3dd2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><br><br>This decline was predicted by many media outlets. <br><br>Craig Chapple, editor of mobile games trade publication PocketGamer.Biz, is one of many game journalists who saw the inevitable fall. "It's rare for games to explode in popularity like Pokemon Go has, but a drop in users was always expected after a big launch," he <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37176782" target="_blank">told the <em>BBC</em></a>. <br><br>It should be noted, however, that Pokemon Go still sits on the list of top grossing games within iOS and Android app stores. But Chapple warns the <strong>drop-off could continue. </strong><br><br>"Pokemon Go is unique,” he told the <em>BBC</em>. “At the moment <strong>it relies on people in your local area playing with you</strong>, not someone on the other side of the world. If the numbers continued to drop so dramatically, who will be left to play you in your small, local town?"</p> <p>Because of this unique aspect of the game, Niantic may see its greatest losses among smaller communities. <br><br>Since day one, those who live in <strong>smaller towns</strong> have voiced their frustrations that <strong>the game has somehow left them behind.</strong> Rural areas are Poke-deserts with no PokeStops or Gyms for gamers to congregate. It has barred many people from feeling that crucial social aspect of the game. This issue is where the game may be seeing its most dramatic drop-offs begin. Pokemon Go may remain more of an urbanite’s game until Niantic is able to find a balance.</p> <p>Niantic may be able to bring players back when it adds new features, like trading and <a href="http://bgr.com/2016/07/24/rarest-pokemon-go-pokemon/" target="_blank">hunt for Legendary Pokemon</a>, but it's difficult to say if these will be enough to lure users in more remote locations back.</p>
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Why Did Saudi Arabia Ban Pokémon Go?
Saudi clerics see Pokemon Go as anti-Islamic and full of forbidden symbols and ideas (like evolution!), so have renewed their 2001 fatwa on it.
20 July, 2016
You better put your plans for hunting Pikachu and doing gym battles on hold if you are in Saudi Arabia. Local clerics have banned Pokémon Go on account of anti-Islamic content.
<p>The ban came as a renewal of a <strong>fatwa</strong> (a religious edict) by the <em>General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars</em>. The card-based version of Pokémon was previously banned in 2001, and now that the mobile game has been taking over the world, the clerics felt it important to revisit the ban. </p> <p>The main issue is that the game is viewed by the clerics as a <strong>form of gambling</strong>, a practice forbidden in Saudi Arabia. The game also supports the <strong>Theory of Evolution</strong> as it allows players to evolve pokemon. This theory is at odds with Islam, according to the clerics. Another issue is that the game features <strong>forbidden symbols</strong> that refer to the Japanese Shinto religion, Christianity, Freemasonry and “global Zionism”.</p> <p>The fatwa states that: </p> <blockquote>
<p>“The symbols and logos of devious religions and organizations are used [including] the six-pointed star: You rarely find a card that does not contain such a star. It is associated with Judaism, the logo and sign of the State of Israel, and the first symbol of the Masonry organizations in the world.”</p>
</blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/saudi-fatwa-on-zionist-pokemon-for-promoting-evolution/" target="_blank">As reported by Al-Jazeera</a>, the game is also being seen negatively in Egypt, where a leading government official, Hamdi Bakheet, views it as a tool of <strong>espionage</strong> by foreign agencies:</p> <blockquote>
<p>“Pokémon Go is the latest tool used by spy agencies in the intel war, a cunning despicable app that tries to infiltrate our communities in the most innocent way under the pretext of entertainment. But all they really want is to spy on people and the state.”</p>
</blockquote> <p>Despite such a cool reception by the governments of some countries, the augmented reality game is popular in the Middle East, being played by thousands in Dubai, Kuwait, and Israel.</p> <p>It still remains to be seen if Pokémon Go will attract the kind of frenzy there that it has generated in places like New York:</p> <p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ede5c9112cbf04410df2d56ef40ebc12"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MLdWbwQJWI0?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p>
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What Is Pokémon Go and Why You Should Care
Nintendo has recently-released the Pokémon Go smartphone game has taken the U.S. by storm, ushering in a new age in gaming and augmented reality.
12 July, 2016
A Pokémon called Pikachu
To put it simply, Pokémon Go is a location-based augmented reality game for your smartphone, the first true hit of this genre. It was developed by Niantic, a company under Google's umbrella. Since it was released in the US a week ago, the game has become a cultural and social phenomenon, quickly going viral, rivaling such online stalwarts as Twitter in popularity.
What do you do in this game? You point your smartphone at the world around you and try to catch magical creatures called Pokémon (short for "pocket monster") that seem to appear on the screen. It's an amazing extension of the game space from the screen to the whole of your everyday experience.
<p>The game uses <strong>GPS </strong>to pinpoint your location and inserts the little monsters into real spaces that you look at through the phone's camera. The game populates the creatures <strong>all over your city</strong>, with different kinds of Pokémon materializing depending on where you are and the time of the day. This way you have to go to more places to find all the monsters.</p> <p>The game is actually smart enough to populate your world with the monsters that are location-dependent. For instance, being on a beach would prompt a water-based Pokémon to pop up.</p> <p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODQwNzQ2MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1Mzc5OTk1M30.lRUbc8uTn46pUw5efqh0HI29m88SDjnQEjsGb2bxCTg/img.jpg?width=980" id="c3b6c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0b68634c22ed357e9a1c4674eba4226c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></p> <p>Once you catch them (which requires you to battle them), you can train the Pokémon and make them fight each other. In the game's parlance, this makes you a "<strong>trainer</strong>". You can also fight other such trainers to give your little monster expanded abilities and to up your ability to find even rarer Pokémon.</p> <p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6a2b6076383e8c3ba50c7f53aea92d2f"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2sj2iQyBTQs?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p> <p>Another aspect of the game are <strong>PokéStops</strong>, which are specific locations in the "real" world that you can see on a map inside the game. Once you go to these places, you can buy (for real money) the game's weapons called Poké Balls and Pokémon-hatching eggs. You can also buy and set up <strong>lures </strong>that can attract Pokémon to these locations (a technique used by some businesses like cafes to attract hordes of obsessed Pokémon hunters).<br><br>To get all the monsters, you need to travel a lot, both day and night.</p> <p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODQwNzQ2MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTY2NTY2Mn0.mB3j4WI66WVYx2yIOFfpJJSaLhBZaotf7vrksmciqBA/img.jpg?width=980" id="bde73" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0dc8e0800a1efed87e1a16e7dcad3ac2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></p> <p>How popular has the game been? People are looking for Pokémon all over their cities, parks, offices, and even while in Ubers. The game was even used by <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2016/7/10/12139968/cops-pokemon-go-used-to-lure-victims-of-armed-robbery-spree" target="_blank">some enterprising robbers to lure victims</a>.<br><br>The Pokémon franchise is owned by Nintendo and already had a viral phase in the late 1990s, when it became wildly popular on the company's handheld consoles, spawning a tv show, movies and trading cards. The tremendous popularity of this new incarnation of the game brought <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/pokemon-chasing-investors-send-nintendo-shares-soaring-1468228206" target="_blank">Nintendo's market value up by $9 billion</a>.</p> <p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODQwNzQ2Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNzE3NDAzMH0.J0niUvoxm0U1blnMttW0puLiIKIK9DCmcF6EH3PRgRE/img.jpg?width=980" id="f6e3c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="82e85c4ff5dd8a67ecb8808696790250" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></p> <p>The game's amazing spread has caused much attention and scrutiny, including criticism of how it gathers user data, <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/article/pokemon-go-read-emails-gmail-google-account" target="_blank">allowing for possible breaches of security</a>. The developers announced that they are working on a patch to fix any such issues.<br><br>The game is available for both<strong> iOS and Android</strong>.</p> <p>Happy hunting (and watch out for that light pole as you walk glued to your screen)!</p>
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