Pokémon has consistently made its way to the list of the most significant pop-culture milestones from the 90s. However, it always had a very niche audience. Then came Pokémon Go, in the year 2016, breaking all its barriers. We saw people with no idea of what a Pokémon is running around to add a Bulbasaur to their collection. All this happened because of the innate satisfaction one felt after catching a Pokémon in the real world; one could even say that this satisfaction was a major factor behind it being one of this generation’s biggest games. However, the question remains- will the sequel happen?
The problem, however, arises in the fact that augmented-reality games can only do so much; we all know how Harry Potter: Wizards Unite has been faring. Considering how Niantic developed both these games, one can see how the formula ends up failing. I wouldn’t go so far as to call Pokémon Go a fluke, but I do believe that its success can’t be replicated, simply because there’s not much else that can be done in a gaming setup rooted in augmented reality beyond catching Pokémons.
For more on how big a deal Pokémon GO is, check this article out.
How is Pokémon Go doing?
Statistics show that the number of Pokémon Go players has consistently dropped over the years, which makes sense considering how the game is slowly turning into something more “high effort”, especially with how one has to regularly go to the gyms and fight, or by the introduction of new “optional” features, such as Go Snapshot, which just make the experience a lot more time-consuming, yet fun.
However, the truth is that we lack the time to invest that much of our time into gaming. With the continuously increasing popularity of games like Valorant, we don’t have the free time to play similar games. I believe that the same problem would be confronted for a Pokémon Go 2 if ever made- Pokémon Go takes so much time to play and has so much effort invested into it that Pokémon Go 2 wouldn’t take off as much as Pokémon Go did. Augmented reality in gaming was fairly new in 2016, making Pokémon Go a trendsetter and contributing to its initial popularity.
More about how to take a Snapshot on Pokémon Go here.
Will we see a Pokémon Go 2 anytime soon?
Considering how prompt the makers (Niantic) are with the variety of new updates and features they regularly introduce; I don’t see Pokémon Go encountering many problems with sustenance for at least the next few years to come. They even seem to have plans for the inevitable day when they’ve exhausted all the Pokémons there is. The beauty, however, of a game like Pokémon Go, is that it changes with the changes seen in the world- isn’t that the whole point of an augmented reality game to begin with?
In a nutshell, there is no space in the market for a Pokémon Go 2 is what I’d believe, for a bunch of reasons as I’ve elucidated, with the most major one being that, quite frankly, the market doesn’t really have the space for a Pokémon Go 2, unless, of course, Niantic wishes to turn it into the next Minecraft Earth. We all know how that ended, don’t we?
