The developers of Pokémon GO view the game as an MMO and compare it to WoW. Does this comparison fit?
The augmented reality game Pokémon GO was the hit of the summer. Millions of players around the world have fallen for the hype of the game and took to the streets to catch the virtual monsters. The game has already been installed over 500 million times. Although the player numbers are currently not as high as shortly after the game’s release, the developers plan a similar lifespan to that of World of Warcraft.
Critical players are important for Pokémon GO
In an interview with Eurogamer, Mike Quigley, the Chief Marketing Officer of Niantic, spoke about the rocky start of Pokémon GO and the long-term goals of the game. He admitted that the developers were not prepared for such a positive launch of the game and thus were unprepared in many areas.
At the time of Pokémon GO’s release, Niantic had not hired a community manager for the game, which is why there was almost no communication from the official side in the beginning. Currently, there are 70 people working for Niantic. Next year they aim to double this number to work together on the key features of Pokémon GO.
Quigley says that fans are especially important. Through their honesty and criticism, the developers can continue to work on improving the game. Recently, they added daily bonuses to reward trainers more for catching Pokémon and visiting PokéStops. The Halloween event in Pokémon GO was also responsible for a significant increase in daily players. These examples show that there are many opportunities to maintain the fun of the game in the future.
“We are more an MMO than anything else”
Pokémon GO is not meant to be a game that makes a lot of money once and then disappears from the scene. Quigley compares Pokémon GO to a major MMO title: “I believe the lifespan differs from other free-to-play mobile games. It is more comparable to World of Warcraft. Monetization was never our focus.” To maintain long-term enjoyment, the developers at Niantic continue to work on core features that make third-party programs unnecessary and conserve server resources.
World of Warcraft has been around since 2005. New content is regularly added via patches to provide players with new tasks. With expansions, larger content and new worlds are unlocked, where players learn more about the game’s history. Regular events could also help maintain the fun of Pokémon GO over a longer period.
Additionally, new generations of Pokémon could provide more variety. Recently, clues to 100 Pokémon from the 2nd generation were found.
Can you imagine that the game can achieve a similar long-term success as World of Warcraft?
