Is the popularity of Pokémon GO starting to…well…go?
The mobile game the burst on the scene just a few weeks ago seems to be fading in terms of usage. A study by SurveyMonkey indicates that Americans chasing for Vaporeon, Exeggutor and Pinsir has dropped by at least 10 percent since peaking at more than 25 million on July 14. It also reports that daily download of the app by U.S. smartphone users has stumbled from nearly 6 million on July 7 to about 1 million on July 20. That all being said, Pokémon GO still has more than 20 million daily users in the U.S. alone, a number that places it among the tops of all apps.
But the declining user base isn”t the only issue the game has. Nintendo, which owns a 32 percent stake in the property, announced late last week that it doesn”t anticipate a significant revenue bump from Pokémon GO. This sent Nintendo”s stock into a free fall. On Monday, the company”s share price closed down nearly 18 percent, its worst decline since October 1990.
In some good Pokémon GO news, Legendary Pictures said last week that it will make a movie based on the game. The company added that it plans to get things underway quickly, and they”re looking to begin production in early 2017.
Hopefully there will still be players then.