I have a confession to make. I have never played Pokémon Go. I didn’t download it and I barely understand how it all works. No, I’m the one who’s been huffing down your neck trying to shuffle past you as you walk far too slowly in the very middle of the pavement looking for Charmander at rush hour.
Despite the fact that I can proudly recite the Pokémon theme tune without so much of a cheeky Google of the lyrics, Pokémon Go was not for me. And it looks like more and more people are over the nostalgic novelty and giving up the game.
A big hint is that the number of in-app purchases has taken a massive hit in the UK and beyond. Superfly Insights, which investigates app user behaviour, has found that even people who already have the app on their phones have stopped using it.
Last Wednesday Johnathan Meiri, chief executive of Superfly Insights said in a blog post that ‘Pokémon Go is gone. It’s been one hell of a ride’, reports The Sunday Times. Unfortunately the previous seven days had been ‘absolutely abysmal’ for the app’.
We’ve all seen the stories about the sometimes-dangerous things people have done to try and catch ‘em all, which would be enough to put off even the most devoted of players. Some people are blaming a lack of new features in the game, while the number of apps that allow you to play the game without leaving your house (which I assumed was the point from the whole ‘Go’ bit, right?) suggest that people really can’t be assed anymore.
What we do know though, is that it’s no where near as popular as it was when it first came out. According to SurveyMonkey, the number of people downloading the game each day dropped from 6 million to 1 million in a fortnight, which is a pretty hefty loss.
Is this the end of Pokémon Go? It’s starting to look like it. If you’re sad about it though, the theme tune will cheer you up…
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** Follow Jazmin on Twitter @JazKopotsha**
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.