Something a bit strange is going on with Pokémon GO’s launch of Gen 2. For now, at least this early on, it does not seem to be some huge revenue driver for Niantic.
My app-analysis contacts are somewhat mystified, and not producing official data yet, but note that despite Gen 2 obviously being Pokémon GO’s biggest update to date, the game has not jumped very many slots up the “Highest Grossing” list in many countries. In many, the U.S., Japan, etc., it remains outside the top ten, when previously, some of the past holiday events Niantic threw caused its place on those charts to spike.
What’s going on here? Why does Gen 2 not seem to be the money-printing update it should be? I think there are a few different reasons.
Players May Have No Idea There Are Now Cosmetic Items For Sale
In my mind, one of the most bizarre aspects of this update is that Niantic seems determined to practically hide the fact that for the first time ever, it's introduced an entire collection of cosmetic items that players can purchase for PokeCoins, i.e. real money.
While this addition to the game was in the official press release, and I think it’s been mentioned on their various social media channels once or twice, if you hear Gen 2 has launched and you’re just logging into the game, you would have no idea this line of items even exists. I am willing to bet that a solid 90-95% of players have no idea that you can even buy new cosmetic items for your trainer.
Unlike most games, which will have a log-in notification about new items like this, GO only has something that says Gen 2 is out. And if you go to the store, the area where you buy everything else for PokeCoins, the clothing items are not listed there. Instead, you have to go to your profile, go to “style” in the menu, go to individual clothing items and only then will you see that there are new ones for sale. I’m not saying that these items would be huge sellers, but the way they’ve appeared in the game, it would be a miracle if players ever actually find them on their own, which is a rather poor sales technique.
Niantic Put Almost No Practical Items On Sale
During the Christmas/New Year’s holiday event, Niantic’s revenue spiked to levels not seen since July during the launch of the game. One reason for this was not just the content of the event, Gen 2 babies hatching, starters spawning, but also because a number of items were put on sale in the store in bundles. The bundles were pricey, but the ultimate savings were real, and these featured-at-the-top-of-the-store listings brought in a lot of cash, clearly.
I think Niantic believed that the launch of Gen 2 Pokémon alone would be enough to bring in a ton of business, and they didn’t think they needed to do something like this again. So what’s happened is that pretty much nothing is on sale. Not balls, not lures, not incense, not incubators, all of which are invaluable during the Gen 2 hunt. Instead, there is literally one thing on sale, the Pokémon storage upgrade which is now half price. Even the item bag upgrade isn’t for sale.
A bundle would have worked wonders here. I get the idea, that Gen 2 would be exciting enough on its own where people would just pay full price for regular items, but a much better play would have been to launch a big bundle sale anyway, considering how clearly that drove revenue previously. Instead, one upgrade at half price is not going to get people to throw money at the screen.
Photo: Niantic
Gen 2 Pokémon Are Less Iconic And Familiar Than Gen 1 Pokémon
Here’s a secret about Gen 2 Pokémon that many ultra-fans may not admit: They’re just not that…great? I mean, some of them are, but speaking as someone who did play Gold and Silver all the way through (twice) when I was younger, I think most people would have to admit that for the vast majority of the public, Gen 2 Pokémon are just nowhere near as iconic as the original 151.
I could rattle off every name in Gen 1 no problem if you gave me enough time, but these new ones? Sure, I remember the starters, and the legendaries, but most of the rest don’t come back to me until I see their names for the first time. Totodile is no Squirtle. Marill is no Pikachu. Hell, Spinarak is no Caterpie. The point is that all the nostalgia and love that people felt when the played GO for the first time with Gen 1 is greatly reduced with Gen 2, given that a lot fewer people have played those games or are familiar with these specific Pokémon. Even if you didn’t play Pokémon, you still recognize and know at least some from Gen 1, but that probably just isn’t true of Gen 2. This is why secretly, I think that a legendary event with Zapdos, Moltres and Articuno, or one with Mew and Mewtwo, might have been an even bigger deal than Gen 2.
The Game Has Not Fundamentally Changed
While this update brought 80-plus new Gen 2 Pokémon into the game, changed some of the mechanics of capturing and introduced a few new items, at its core, Pokémon GO is still the same game, and that’s just not going to be enough for many beleaguered players.
For many, sure, simply dumping a bunch of new Pokémon into the game to collect and evolve and upgrade is enough. It’s certainly gotten me playing again. But I think there’s another crowd who will look at the game, see a bunch of new Pokémon (most of which they’ve never heard of) and no other real changes. This update has not brought with it a much-needed update of the gym/battling system, which is not terribly engaging or in-depth. This update has not introduced some major new addition to the game like NPC enemies, which would be something from the handheld that would work well in GO and give players something new to do. Instead, the endgame is still the same. Catch ‘em all. Good enough for some, not enough for others, it seems.
Update: To expand on this a little bit, even players who are excited to return to Gen 2 might see their interest fade after an initial burst of new things to catch. For instance, in the past 36 hours or so, I've caught exactly 10 different Gen 2 Pokémon. But since then, no matter where I've gone, down city blocks or all the way to the suburbs, I have not seen any but those 10. In spinning 50 PokeStops, I haven't gotten a single evolution item I can use either.
Granted, I'm not expecting to catch everything so quickly, but something a bit strange is going on here. There are ~85 new Pokemon, which is a little more than half of the ~140 from Gen 1 that were spawning when the game launched. But since Gen 2 Pokémon are now spawning disproportionately, (I'd say 60-80% of spawns), that actually feels like less diversity, given that there's a smaller pool to chose from. I know I will see more in time, and hopefully my eggs hatching will provide more diversity, but I do find it a bit dispiriting that I can walk around for an hour on day two and not even see a silhouette of a new Gen 2 Pokémon because the 10 I already caught are the only ones spawning.
It's Still Early, And Gen 2 Notifications Went Out Late
In the end, it may still be too early to judge Gen 2’s performance, even if earlier indicators aren’t great. For reasons that remain unclear, Niantic waited a full day to send out emails and put an in-game news bulletin that Gen 2 was launched, so it’s possible that many players weren’t aware of the launch (though it did take over half the internet as everyone on earth was writing articles about it, myself included).
But Gen 2 is a long-term update, which is something else to consider. This is not an event that lasts a long weekend or a week or two, this is now a permanent addition to the game, which means that in theory, there’s no real rush to get out there. It’s still freezing in many places, making it hard to play, and these Pokémon will be here forever now. No rush might mean that many aren’t joining the surge of initial players showing up for Gen 2 the first few days of launch.
It’s going to take some time to full gauge the impact of Gen 2 in Pokémon GO. I think it’s a solid addition to the game and I’m certainly having fun with it, but given what it contains, and some decisions Niantic has made regarding its launch, I might be able to understand why it hasn’t been an enormous revenue driver as of yet. We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks.
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