Recently, with the warm spring weather, mobile location-based augmented reality (AR) game companies have started marketing, but they are turning away users. The number of users for popular AR games in South Korea, such as "Pokémon Go" and "Pikmin Bloom," has dropped to about one-third of its peak. The industry points to a lack of content in AR games as the reason.
According to mobile statistics analysis platform Mobile Index on the 15th, the weekly active users (WAU) of Pokémon Go, the leader in AR games, was recorded at 452,900 in the first week of April. This is a drop of over 80,000 compared to the previous month (536,870) and nearly 200,000 compared to a year ago (648,150). Comparing this with the peak WAU of 1,500,620 in the fourth week of June 2022 shows that the number of users has decreased by close to one-third.
Released in 2016 by Niantic in some regions including the United States and Australia, Pokémon Go became a global sensation using the globally recognized intellectual property (IP) Pokémon. In particular, news that it would be available in some areas of Sokcho, Gangwon Province, after its global launch drew massive crowds to the city. As a result, Pokémon Go was officially launched in South Korea in 2017. However, the fervor for Pokémon Go, which was strong from 2016 to 2017, gradually faded, but the popularity of Pokémon IP was reignited in 2022 with the success of "Pokémon Bread," leading to a surge in users. It was also selected as the best game in Google Play's "2022 Game Awards for Longevity."
Another AR game that gained popularity in South Korea, "Pikmin Bloom," has also seen a recent decline in users. According to Mobile Index, the WAU of Pikmin Bloom in the first week of April (estimated only for Android) was recorded at 197,870. This represents a drop of over 20,000 compared to the previous month (218,420). This game, also released by Niantic in 2021, gained popularity among the Gen Z and Alpha generations in South Korea after it was revealed that girl group NewJeans enjoyed it. While the WAU of Pikmin Bloom reached 412,610 last November, the number of users has also dropped by nearly one-third.
Niantic planned marketing activities related to outdoor activities in line with the spring weather, but it appears insufficient to attract more users. Players must move outdoors using smartphones to catch Pokémon and battle in Pokémon Go. Similarly, Pikmin Bloom requires users to physically move to plant seedling plants in pots and accumulate steps to generate Pikmin characters. Given the nature of AR games that specialize in outdoor activities, spring is the peak season. Consequently, Niantic operated special Pokémon events at the "Yeouido Spring Flower Festival" from late March to early April and a "Pikmin Popup Store" at Yeouido The Hyundai, but the number of users continues to decline.
The gaming industry is attributing the recent failure of AR games to a lack of content. It is noted that there is a lack of new content beyond collecting characters in Pokémon Go and developing characters in Pikmin Bloom. While the games were initially entertaining due to the consolidation of outdoor activities and online gaming, many users have left as they became tired of repetitive gameplay. Niantic has been implementing various updates to diversify characters and add items, but the fundamental issue of insufficient content remains unresolved.
An industry insider stated, "The decline in popularity of AR games like Pokémon Go and Pikmin Bloom was an expected outcome," adding that "the games themselves are not special, and the significant factor was simply the power of the Pokémon IP or popular girl groups." They continued, "If updates continue at a level of merely increasing the variety of characters without innovative content, user attrition will only deepen."