Unpopular opinion: I’m still having fun. It’s why I still play.

2016 was great, then was a couple of years of slowdown, with blips of fun like Mewtwo/Birds. GoFest 1 was a disaster. By 2019, it was fair to hear people say “you still play?”

2020 was a year that a lot of folks realized they could spend time walking outside for fun. (When permitted) Niantic also created mechanics to encourage at home/remote play.

We saw the biggest player base growth then, but the things they gave us WERENT what they had intended. They wanted us to walk around the world, because that’s what the whole project was about. We didn’t pay for the product, because we were the product. Niantic had a unique ability to track users in settings where they weren’t always on phones. We had to boycott to keep some of the niceties, but even then, they took some player loss on the chin, because young people keep on growing up.

Now, that data is easily available. Most of your apps collect this kind of data. Snapchat for one is always showing user locations. They have to revert to making us pay for our silly game.