Will Gen 2 help save Pokémon Go?

Finally, Niantic have released the second wave of Pokémon into the world of Pokémon Go.

The update was announced exactly one week ago today, and went live a few days later. More than 80 Pokémon were added to the game. This takes the total to 251 if we include the (as of right now) uncatchable legendaries, or 238 if we only count Pokémon you can actually catch.

There were a lot more features added as well. If you want to see the full patch notes, CLICK HERE

The anticipation for this game has been building for months, and many players have been waiting for this update for a while. But will this update help Pokémon Go in the long run?
Yes, the update has brought back a lot of player who had left, but my guess is they won't stay for long.

I've been playing this game since before it came out in the UK and I love the whole concept of it. However, the players that quit, tend to have one of two reasons for quitting. The first being that they completed the pokédex and saw no point in continuing to play. The second being that they didn't enjoy the collecting aspect of the game and wanted more multiplayer features. Now those players who quit because they'd completed the Kanto 'dex will likely return to fill up their Johto 'dex. However, those players who are asking for a more interactive game, and more multiplayer features... Well this update doesn't add anything for them.

Let's transport ourselves a few months into the future. Generation 2 has now been out on Pokémon Go for a while, and many people have spent a lot of time collecting all the new Pokémon. Now what happens? Well my guess is that we'll see another wave of people leaving. The returning players will vanish, having completed their Pokédex once again. Yet this time, they'll be joined by the players who dislike the Gym battling system. If you're not into defeating gyms, and have caught all the Pokémon, then what else is there to do in this game? The answer is "not a lot". With gyms being filled with CP3000+ Pokémon, the newer players have no chance of earning their free coins. And depending on your location, one team might have a stronghold on the gyms, so even if you take it down you won't hold it for long.

All gyms near me are controlled by high level mystic players.

So what can Niantic do to stop these players from leaving and ensuring their game continues to thrive? The answer to that is actually quite simple; add more features to the game. If there was more to the game than filling your pokédex and controlling gyms then there would be more for players who have completed their 'dex to do. There are loads of things that they could add that would achieve this. Some of the most popular suggestions are trading and PvP battles. A couple of my favourite suggestions are to add daily quests and NPCs. These extra features would give more depth to the game and add hours of game-play which would entice the players who dislike the gym system.
What Niantic are doing to keep players interested is hosting lots of in-game events to keep the game fresh.

The Valentine's and New Year's events got a lot of people excited about the increased spawns of rare Pokémon!

Already this year Niantic have given us two events. First, the New Year's event, where there were increased spawns of the starter Pokémon. The, the Valentine's event, where there was double candy and increased spawn of pink Pokémon. Clearly Niantic are trying to increase playerbase while keeping the players they already have. But unless they add some big features in the near future, I can see the game slowly dying out. I don't think the game will ever completely die. It is, at the moment, one of the only games of its kind, which will help it a lot, and there will always be Pokémon fans playing. But until they add some extra features. it will never be as popular as it was upon release.

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