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Remember FarmVille? The game on Facebook that got you and all your friends completely hooked?
Well, it appears that the game’s founder has an important message for the creators and fans of Pokemon Go.
Amitt Mahajan, who is now a partner of VC firm Presence Capital, which invests in virtual reality and augmented reality, has said people seeing others walking around playing Pokemon Go on their phones will want in. But that does not mean its popularity will last.
He said to etch itself into the cultural consciousness for years, like Candy Crush and Angry Birds, a game needs to add new levels or challenges often, and Pokemon Go may not be able to do that.
“Once the honeymoon period fades the game’s current core loop of walking outside collecting Pokemon is likely too shallow to retain the majority of its users long-term,” Mahajan writes in his blog.
The app lets players follow a map in real life using their phone’s GPS location data and catch Pokemon to train and battle.
Mahajan said users could be turned off if they run out of nearby Pokemon to collect. However, he said the game will still retain a smaller group of dedicated players.
A spokesman for Pokemon Go’s developer declined to say how many users there were.
The craze has spread across the US and is starting to pick up in the UK with people falling over and bumping into things because they are so engrossed.
Currently, playing the game is more popular with US Android users than tweeting, binge watching TV on Netflix or listening to music on Pandora or Spotify, according to research by digital market intelligence firm SimilarWeb.
But the game still trails other popular apps such as Facebook Messenger, (22.1%), Instagram (13.1%), WhatsApp (10%) and Snapchat (8.3%).
