Will Pokemon Go die quickly?

It's been a week since Pokemon GO has been released and people have been going around their towns, hunting down adorable creatures and conquering Gyms. It's no secret that Pokemon GO is a hit. It has become the #1 app in the APP Store, it has been downloaded over 7.5 million times and has grossed over $14 million. It's rather impressive, but the question that arises now is: is it going to endure the test of time, or will it die quickly and be forgotten? The answer is a complex one.

Asking this question in a time when Pokemon GO is enjoying success may seem out of place, but the game is facing some very serious problems that need addressing quickly.

1. Bugs

Many  users are reporting all sorts of bugs and issues with the game. These range from US gamers discovering that Pokémon GO “isn’t available in your country” to maps utterly devoid of any and all Pokémon. Other users have reported opening the game to discover that all their progress has been wiped. There are ongoing issues with Pokémon GO servers going down as well.
Hopefully these are patched up quickly, but in its current state Pokémon GO may or may not run without issues.

2. Battery Life Eater

All the biggest battery-eating culprits are in action when it comes to Pokémon GO. Your screen is the biggest battery hog, and you’ll be using it plenty. On top of that, you’re going to use your camera so that you can see the Pokémon in the real world. And to top it all off, the ever hungry GPS is a must to even find the Pokémon in the first place. All of this together is a recipe for dead phones.
There are some workarounds and temporary fixes to this problem, but ultimately you’ll just want to plan ahead. When you go out looking for Pokémon, bring a fully-charged phone with you.

3. Simplified gameplay

Pokemon GO is not a "true" Pokemon game. Battles, stats, the entire experience, really, is a stripped down affair to appeal to a wider net of mobile users. The game tends to get repetitive after a while and it’s kind of a shame that the more in-depth battle system from the handheld games didn’t make it over to Pokémon GO. 

4. Interaction with other people = 0

But perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Pokemon GO is that there's no interaction with other players whatsoever. One of the best things about the RPG series is that you can trade or battle with other trainers around the world. Hell, even in the GameBoy days people used to trade and battle using Link Cables. In Pokemon GO however, other players don't even appear on your map and trading or battling them directly isn't possible. Trading has been teased, but it remains to be seen if it will actually make it to the game.

CONCLUSION: So to answer the primary question, unless Nintendo provides patches to fix the bugs, and introduce new mechanics to give more depth to the game, Pokemon GO might be facing a dead end. Nintendo should look forward to build on the game's success and not get overjoyed by it. The real test will begin after all the hype is gone.

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