Tag: mobile gaming

Certain third party mobile apps and websites that gave trainers the ability to locate specific monsters are closed.

The latest Pokémon Go update has created a massive stir among its players. Mobile device users who feel like they have to “catch ‘em all” are now short several tools for doing so. Game apps and sites that had given trainers the ability to find specific Pokémon have now been shut down.

This is because the latest update to Pokémon Go has eliminated nearby tracking from its features.

This Pokémon Go update in particular has players up in arms. The update removed the feature for finding Pokémon located nearby and shut down third party maps revealing locations. That said, this first major update to the mobile game changed several other factors about the experience as well.

For example, players can now alter the appearance of their trainer. The curveball dynamics have also been changed. Part of the way gym battles function has been altered. The update improved the transfer process for sending unwanted Pokémon to professor Willow.

The footprint distance readings removal was the least popular among the Pokémon Go updates.

Services that players had been using to find nearby Pokémon have been widely shut down. These were forced to close with the latest game app update. This is causing massive upset among players of the most popular app in the world. After having become an overnight sensation that immediately drew millions upon millions of active players, it has already had over 100 million downloads.

Headlines have been repeatedly made as crowds of people have headed to various local landmarks. Dedication to the app has also led people to wander aimlessly into traffic, fall into holes and into lakes, oceans and rivers, walk into posts and even get caught cheating on their girlfriends.

It isn’t clear how long the hysteria over this mobile game app will continue, but what is clear at the moment is that players aren’t happy with the latest Pokémon Go update. One Reddit user, Oxgmum, wrote “Pokémon Go went from a game that I go out to play, to a game I play when I’m out, to a game I never play.” This gained the post more than 2,750 up votes in less than 24 hours.

Move over Candy Crush, Pokémon Go has become the biggest mobile game in the US.

Pokémon Go has been steadily breaking records since the first day it was released. The augmented reality scavenging game broke download records on its launch day. Now, the game has 21 million active daily users in the United States. It is the nation’s top mobile game, successfully surpassing Candy Crush Saga’s 20 million peak active user total.

Pokémon Go may even surpass SnapChat.

In addition to leaving Candy Crush in its dust, Nintendo and Niantic’s crown jewel is also squashing other hugely popular mobile games. Both Supercell’s Clash Royale and Slitehr.io were big candidates for 2016’s top mobile game title. Not anymore. These games don’t have a chance to compete with the all-out sensation that Pokémon Go has become.

In fact, according to data from SurveyMonkey Intelligence, the Pokémon mobile game phenomenon is predicted to beat the number of Snapchat active daily users on Android devices within the next couple of days.

If this should happen, the augmented reality mobile game will also surpass Google Maps active daily Android users. More smartphone users will use maps to find Pokémon than anything else. This is quite remarkable to say the very least.

This top mobile game is even more engaging than Facebook.

The AR game doesn’t only have more active daily users than any other mobile game. It is also proving to have better average user engagement than social media giant Facebook. A news article from Forbes noted that according to Sensor Tower data, the game is more engaging and taking up more user time than Facebook.

If Pokémon Go continues with its latest trend, it will no doubt continue to become more popular than social media apps. It should be noted, however, that even though the game is toppling social media apps, it isn’t surpassing other mobile games in terms of time spent playing. For instance, the average Game of War player spends 2 hours daily playing. Even Candy Crush Saga players average approximately 43 minutes daily, which still exceeds Pokémon’s 33 minutes daily average.

Pokémon Go will soon be launched in other major countries and has recently been released in Germany. It will be interesting to see if the game manages to claim the top mobile game spot in these other countries as well.