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JOHTO POKEMON ARRIVING SOON TO POKEMON GO!! :D
And before this thread is opened up for discussion, I'd like to first address a few things that I'm tired of hearing:
"Pokemon Go is still dead"/"This update won't save Pokemon Go"
Just because you stopped playing a game, doesn't mean no one plays it anymore. And, yes, the game certainly isn't as popular as it was at first -- but it started off being immensely popular, and it doesn't need to gain that popularity back 100% in order to still be a successful and profitable game. Additionally, it really bugs me how any update that Niantic rolls out is immediately met with the response that it won't "save" Pokemon Go. What about it needs "saving", exactly? Again, it's not as hugely popular as it was before, but Niantic's still making a decent chunk of money off of it, and nothing that they've been doing really feels desperate or anything. If anything, Niantic actually seems to be much more competent and on-top-of-everything than they were at the game's launch. Saying that Pokemon Go needs "saving" implies that it's dead in the water, when really, I think the game has steadily been improving ever since the first big drop in its popularity, and it has the potential to grow even more.
"They should've released this sooner when the game was still popular."
- These things take time to develop, and Niantic is a small company.
- Even if we assume that Niantic had the means to release Gen II much sooner than this -- I actually think it makes far more sense for a big update like this to come out in spring. Because, yeah, lots of people stopped playing in the fall. And while I realize that a lot of people were frustrated with the game itself, I also think the weather is a large contributing factor. Pokemon Go is more enjoyable when playing it doesn't require you to freeze your ass off in the unforgiving cold. So, I think that saving the Johto release for spring means that they would be more likely to see a spike in popularity -- since the big update also coincides with nicer weather. Perhaps it could even result in somewhat of a resurgence in popularity, especially given the fact that the game is more stable, more polished, and has more features than it did when its popularity started to dip in the first place. Probably not a huge resurgence, but hopefully enough that people will stop calling it "dead".
An MMO (and, yes, this game is technically an MMO) requires the developers to constantly add new material in order to keep players interested. If an MMO stops seeing content updates, then that's when it actually dies, because players will have nothing to come back for. The Pokemon franchise having so many generations of pokemon stocked up is actually a huge advantage for Niantic. Pokemon Go is already sort of notorious for burning out way too quickly, but at least they still have some loyal fans, who can be kept interested through these gradual updates. But if each generation was rolled out right after the other? They'd just burn out that much faster. I don't think that the slow rollout of new pokemon is a sign of Niantic being slow and incompetent. I think they planned to hold onto Johto (and subsequent generations) until they felt the timing was right. Even if the game was being developed by a much bigger company (one that would be more-than-capable of getting new generations out at a pretty fast pace), waiting to release those new generations would still be the more strategic option.
SO NOW THAT I'VE GOTTEN ALL THAT OUT OF THE WAY:
THOUGHTS ON POKEMON GO'S JOHTO RELEASE?? :D
