The game was officially launched in 6th August 2016 in Malaysia and the whole country went mad after waiting for the longest time ever since the early release in Australia. The original series of pocket monsters were created about 20 years ago and with current technology, it gave players a new breath to the game demand players to be physically involved moving around collecting these little creatures.

All the hype that it generates before and after the release made us ponder on the sustainability of this game. The sustainability of the game could open up
opportunities which allows complements such as selling the Pokemon Go Plus Wearable to obtain a new stream of income.

Sustainability Issues

But I believe that Pokemon Go has sustainability issues where players indulged in augmented reality wakes up going back to reality since it only has so much to offer. First, let’s address the overnight success of the game!

For starters, we all grew up watching, playing or even knowing some of these cute creatures’ name. Pikachu for instance had been iconic and seems to be the familiar face for the brand name itself. Since brand power plays such a huge impact on the newly released game, it attracted almost everyone who heard of and played before the original Pokemon.

Another plus factor came in where the game was designed to use your phone’s camera simulating the effect of literally catching a Pokemon. That added the hype of a new playing experience from a mobile device which gets everyone talking. The young and old are fascinated of how this works and that spiked the number of user downloads at a higher rate compared to what the brand name brings.

All these factors are great for a game developer but as time goes by, the satisfaction that one player receives decline significantly.

The Law of Marginal Utility

When you have an empty Pokedex to be filled, every single new Pokemon caught definitely makes you happy. As a matter of fact, the happiest moment is when you caught your first Pokemon although you already knew that you are going to get it anyway. The public took it to social media to show that they are in the game following the latest trend by uploading their first ever Pokemon caught.

But do you see them uploading more after that? Do you see people celebrating capturing a Rattata? The law of Marginal Utility applies in this case where the marginal utility of satisfaction declines for a person after consuming the same good over and over again. A simpler way to explain this is like having a piece of cake creates maximum satisfaction but having the whole cake makes you want to puke it all out.

Similar effects were observed in the game where after about 200 – 300 catches, the game gets a little boring. Part of the reason being ‘common’ Pokemon appear all the time such as Rattata or Pidgey. The game allows you to power up or evolve the Rattata to Raticate but seriously? The maximum Combat Power (CP) for a Raticate is far below those vicious ones you see occupying nearby gyms.

Players are advised to catch every single Pokemon let it be common or rare since it contributes to XP. The levelling system might seem to be a race for players to keep playing to achieve greater heights but the problem with the leveling system is that regular people like you and me would drop out when there’s something better to do.

The geographical limitation creates a problem for one where a player has to switch continents just to catch that little Kangaskhan (kangaroos = Australia). Technically the game developers make it hard for one to catch them all! A factor which have players giving up as time passes to achieve the ultimate goal.

A Life In Reality Rather than Augmented

Working commitment, meetings to attend, articles to write, research piling up and much more isn’t allowing me to play Pokemon Go ‘to be the very best’. In contrast, the animated series shows that Ash is a full time Pokemon Master which none of us is.

The progress of leveling up is very good for players to stick with the game in order to get better and turn it into a boasting subject among players. Eventually the world of Pokemon might experience the same income disparity problem like what we have in our economy. As time goes by, the gap between the rich (high level) and poor (low level) gets wider.

In order for the poor to breach into the rich category, it would require more effort than what the mid class goes through. But when the situation gets too hard to achieve, people would just give up. In fact, people do give up in real life when the rat race gets tiring. Comparing that with a game, leaving a game would seem much easier than giving up in real life. The disparity between players who started the game first and a later would likely discourage new entry in the future.

I guess, only the hardcore players would stay with the game rather than the immense number of people who are still actively playing a week after the launch.

Revenue for Niantic?

They do sell some Pokeballs, Lucky Eggs, Incense which would help you level up quicker and makes it easier to catch more Pokemon. But those item aren’t really that
much of a premium since it could be acquired when a player levels up in the game.

Having no premium, declines one’s ability to pay in a ‘Freemium’ app since you could be successful but just slower. Perhaps the developer made it that way so that everyone has a chance at success with or without paying. I seriously don’t see much revenue coming in for Niantic since the mechanism isn’t similar to games like Clash of Clans where payment buys time in the utmost needed moment to prepare for a war.

Utilizing a lucky egg to level up quicker gives the illusion that one can “buy time” but the problem is that the lucky egg effect needs Pokemon nearby to complement a player’s quick leveling goal.

Articles offering the tips and tricks to quick leveling also mention to evolve Pokemon within the 30 minutes time frame utilizing the double experience points that the lucky egg offers. So in order to squeeze more juice out from the lucky egg, one needs to plan his move properly, how many Pokemon to evolve, to use a Lure Module or not, single or double Lure Modules at adjacent Pokestops, to use Incense or not, to run back and forth or not, to look for a place with good network coverage, etc. At the end of this, doesn’t it make one ponder, “If I can plan and Exeggcute (pun intended) this “30 minute” plan so well, why haven’t I do so with my life?” It’s utterly sad in this case…

I would honestly love to buy some candy if that’s possible. Magikarp requires 400 Magikarp candies to evolve into a gigantic ass kicking Gyrados. But at the moment, 400 Magikarp candies meant that I would have to catch at least 100 Magikarps along the way where it’s totally insane.

How about GPS cheaters in the game? Literally one could move without moving and gain an edge against others. Using the GPS location changer, a player could visit hard to reach places, jumping continents and possibly unlimited amount of Pokeballs or Potions since every Pokestop is just a finger move away! Clearly this is another problem to keep legit players in tact for the time being.

The growth from this games seems to be limited and players are just catching Pokemon all the way rather than actually training them like what they should. Perhaps in the near future, the game developers would add more features into the game but in the mean time, the future is still in foggy even though the game is one of the most popular app in the market.

I guess its not wise to be investing opening up Pokemon related meeting points such as cafes or restaurant for players or even planting too much time into playing the game and become the best in an augmented reality world. A hardcore gamer would rather plant his time into MMORPG or MOBA games. Makes me wonder what will happen when World of Warcraft meets augmented reality.

This hype that the game currently brings seems short-lived similar to what we see in the stock price for Nintendo in Japan. Pokemon Go sure did bring back the nostalgic feelings we had back in Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow era, but how long can this nostalgia lasts?

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