Why Pokémon GO Feels so DEAD

Does Pokémon GO feel dead to you? Today we explore some reasons as to why...

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[PkmnMasterNeb]

I think my biggest issue right now is how many paid tickets there are now. Legit every event has a paid aspect to it now which is super annoying. Events feel so boring now.

[Rscreacts]

had cancer last year and a half, am the weakest I've ever been. Reinstalled the game and It really helps me get out and get walking with my kids. Totally helping me get healthy again, really should be marketed as a product that helps you get motivated to get walking and get out of the house. Sounds silly but the extra incentive really helps.

[Tuzldo]

I really miss when literally everyone played Pokémon go in 2016, 2017 too. It was such a fun experience and I met so many new friends playing the game.

[tomrobertson]

2019 was the best time to play. You missed that we used to get legendaries from the weekly research, which made it worth it

[freshjose]

I had an entire 50 people group chat raiding every single day full lobby. The game died the moment they raised raid passes price. Not one person ever posted a raid in the chat after. And it really sucks because I became great friends with some of them. And now just looking at the chat and all the fun times we had breaks my heart.

[benjawiBen]

It still annoys me that they said they were nerfing remote raids to get people out. Remote raiding didn't stop me going out. But it did allow me to help my nephew take down raids he couldn't do on his own in a different city. It did allow me to do legendary raids with friends I don't live near, especially since I rarely see anyone in legendary raids near my home, work on the half hour walk between the two. It changed how I played for the better, and didn't mean I went out less. I probably go out less now, though, because it's just not as fun now, and that's on Niantic

[marksawyer]

Completely agree with you. I started playing with my Son in 2020, we totally missed the pre pandemic community groups raiding and playing together. We loved the game by just trying to "catch em all". The desire to complete the Pokédex was so addictive. Wednesday raid nights were so good as we would grind for the rare high IV legendaries, knowing that we would then slowly power them up so they would improve our raid teams. Game friends that we will never meet, joined us in raid teams and you were invested in their progress and compare your level to theirs. My Son's reactions when he caught a shiny legendary will live with me forever. He learnt how to perfect excellent throws way before me. Together we learnt and shared information we found on you tube about future events and best counters. What a game, what a brilliant shared experience for Father & Son. Then they killed remote raids. Raid nights were no longer an event. Shadow legendaries are just impossible. My Son has now found new games that keep him interested. I being the compulsive idiot I am, had to get to Level 50. I managed it 2 days ago. I expected some joy, some sense of achievement, but instead it just feels like the end. There will be new Pokémon released and I will catch them for the Pokédex but I no longer care about it's IV's or it's meta relevance. The point was to build raid groups and then raid with similar minded people. Players you would become lucky with but never ever meet to use that bonus. Niantic killed that. A company who strives to encourage community and yet failed to understand the thriving community that they may have inadvertently created with remote raiding and failed to appreciate what they were "killing" by reverting to pre pandemic. Sorry for the rant, but a game I thoroughly enjoyed is now nothing more than a chore.

[Poketeacher]

nice to see a big streamer actually call it like it is.

[xxdeathxx]

The thing I hate is how you can not catch a lot of the Pokémon until the game lets you. There is like 7 or 8 pokemon that spawn for a week until the game gives you different spawns. It feels boring when you constantly see the same 7 Pokemon spawns and that is why I quit.

[keiichi]

I raided with a small group of friends across the country. When they nerfed raids, if killed our ability to raid together and I completely stopped playing as a result

[NateCreed]

I don't think this is negative; I think it's just being real and honest. That's important for them to hear and I appreciate you vocalizing it because they will likely hear your voice due to you being an influencer. It's hard being a long-time fan of the game, feeling frustrated, and having ideas to help fix the game, but knowing they will never hear us because we don't have the platform to say something. You do, and you're being a great voice for all of us. Thank you!

[loopylinguist]

For me it’s not the grinding that I find fun. It’s playing with my friends. Whether that’s raiding, or playing events, I just love the social aspect of the game. I don’t tend to go out grinding that much on my own, but I get together with friends on weekends just to have fun playing together and hanging out. That’s the part I enjoy most. But I do agree that it has lost some of the magic with events becoming less interesting and new features consistently not being as good as I wish they were.

[AnthonyOnPatrol]

One thing also worth mentioning is the monetization of every single event. It used to be a super uncommon thing mostly reserved for go fest, but now it's every event and often the main pokemon in events are locked behind paywalls. Every event used to have a collection badge and/or a timed research and now timed research is just subbed out for paid research, makes every event way worse.

[rebelo]

Pokémon go is always going to dry out because of the fact that you have to go outside and play. The only way to revive is to add a way to play from home, but they will never do that because it will just be another Pokémon game. So the solution? Buy a console and play real Pokémon, you won’t care about Pokémon Go anymore.

[ValkaDragonheart]

worst part is... living in a countryside with nothing around it and not being able to go

[shaggy]

Thanks for calling it as it is. Niantic needs to listen more and be open to player feed back. We want the game to succeed just as much as they do

[clobberintime]

Spot on. People were raiding like crazy. Then they decided to kill remote raids and now it's dead as can be in the local chats. It's been a huge bummer.

[olivershipside]

I think a good way to incentivise people to play more would be to add legendaries back to the research breakthrough, as i remember i played every day just to get those free legendaries. I can see them making it random which legendaries you get, with the best ones like rayquaza, dialga etc being lower odds(to avoid them being easily accessible to all). This would make a good reason to log in every day, meaning more active players. They could also add in a system to trade with players globally, allowing for users to get Pokémon of a similar level/rarety of ones they put in. For example, i have loads of shinies from com days that are bad IV’S but i can’t bring myself to transfer them. There are loads of ways Niantic can bring vast amounts of popularity back to Pokémon go, but they won’t for one reason. It’s not profitable to hand out strong Pokémon, as no-one will want to raid to get more.

[sauvag]

Remote raid pass nerf took me out of the game

[Dragonsamuari]

I started Pokemon GO right when the pandemic started. I made an online group of friends where we all do remote raids and had fun getting the legendaries. Ever since the changes made in 2023, the majority of my group quit playing. Despite me living just a few miles from a city, whatever local groups I searched for were dead and I don't even see people playing in person, so I had zero reason to keep playing. People keep saying that you're supposed to go outside to play, but what's the point when A) the weather gets really crappy for days at a time and B) there's no one nearby to play?