Players May Have To Wait For New Pokémon Go Characters

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Pokemon Go players should expect to see new Pokemon arrive in the game at events that bring the players together. However, it will be possible only after the gaming company has completed its worldwide rollout, Niantic Labs CEO John Hanke told the audience at TechCrunch Digest. Therefore, players excited to get their hands on new Pokemon have to wait a bit longer.

New Pokemon at events

Hanke told the audience that the introduction of new Pokemon worldwide and having big events where they might be showcased are two concepts that go together quite well.

“So, I think you can expect to see that happen in kind of a synchronized way going forward,” the executive said.

Niantic used a similar strategy as Ingress, an augmented reality game, which it developed when it was a part of Google. The gaming giant has hosted events for players of that AR game over the past several years, notes PC World. Such events assist in bringing together the community of Ingress players, which Hanke calls “ComicCon meets a 5K.”

“Events will be part of our future. We’re kind of waiting for the launch craziness to subside, and then [will] get to work and do the hard work of planning. Because it’s hard to put together an event for 10,000 plus people,” Hanke said.

Hanke also shared some information about the launch of the popular augmented reality game, notes PC World. When Pokemon Go was launched in the U.S., it took over all the Google Cloud platform capacity that Niantic had reserved for its eventual launch worldwide. Hanke thus sent an emergency email to his old colleague Google CEO Sundar Pichai and asked him for “reinforcements.”

Pokemon Go making less money

There have been reports of Pokemon Go losing steam with the number of active users starting to decline for the first time. Now Slice Intelligence suggests that Pokemon Go is getting hit where it really hurts — the wallet. Data indicates that the number of Pokemon Go players that pay money through in-app purchases has declined 79% since it peaked on July 15, notes Business Insider.

About 61% of all mobile game buyers made an in-game purchase on July 15, but the number dropped to 22.5% on September 3. However, it in no way means that the game is not making any money. According to App Annie, it is the top-grossing app in the United States.

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