Looking Back at the Highs and Lows of Pokemon Go's First Year

Just over a year ago, Pokemon Go started its meteoric rise when Niantic officially released the game in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Within a few weeks, it seemed as if everyone from longtime fans of the Pokemon franchise to elderly grandparents and suburban moms was playing Pokemon Go.

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For many people, Pokemon Go was last summer’s “passing fad,” a game that quickly lost the majority of its massive and unprecedented userbase. However, the game still has over 60 million monthly players and has evolved into a drastically better gaming experience than what many played last year.

To celebrate the Pokemon Go‘s first year, let’s take a look at some of the game’s high and lows over the past 12 months:

That First Month

No one could have predicted just how crazy that first month of Pokemon Go was. When the game’s servers were functional, hundreds of thousands of people flocked to their local parks to look for that rare Pokemon missing from their collections.

More than a few videos showing “stampedes” of players rushing through a park at night went viral, showing just how nuts things were during those first few weeks.

Local parks weren’t the only places to see an uptick in traffic. Churches, local businesses, and even some private properties also saw a huge surge in visitors, occasionally to the dismay of their owners. Some businesses and parks took advantage of Pokemon Go, holding special events and welcoming players in their doors.

Others, especially homeowners and concerned politicians, filed multiple complaints against Pokemon Go, leading to a couple of (still active) lawsuits and changes to local laws.

Growing Pains

Even at the height of Pokemon Go fever, the game still had its problems. The overwhelming traffic frequently crashed the game’s servers, often at peak times. Also, Pokemon Go didn’t come with much an instruction manual, which forced the fanbase (and sites like ours) to step up and collaborate on finding the best way to battle and catch Pokemon.

Pokemon Go also got a bit of a bad reputation during that first summer, too. Multiple Pokemon Go players crashed their cars while playing the game, which forced the game to institute a “speed limit” to prevent players from playing at certain speeds. Several players also got hurt either because they weren’t looking or because they wandered into areas they weren’t supposed to be in.

Also, people found a lot of dead bodies while playing Pokemon Go. Yeah, that was weird.

The Rise of Events

As the initial hype died down and players started filling out their PokeDex more and more, Pokemon Go realized it needed a way to keep the fanbase engaged and playing, especially as their gym system was only usable for high level players.

Right before Halloween, Pokemon Go announced its first event, which flooded the game with spooky Pokemon for the holiday. Not only did the event cause a secondary spike of interest in the game, it also resulted in a lot of money for Niantic as players loaded up on PokeBalls and discounted items from the in-game store.

Niantic quickly settled into a monthly schedule with its events, although “mini-events” occasionally occur on random weekends.

Nowadays, events are probably the most anticipated part of Pokemon Go. As soon as one event ends, players start speculating as to when the next one will take place.

The Downfall of Trackers

During its first week, Pokemon Go had a tracking system that gave players hints as to far away players were from certain Pokemon. Unfortunately, developers pulled the tracker out of the game due to the immense strain that it caused the game’s servers.

To replace the missing tracker, some fans developed custom made tracking websites that used proxy accounts to “ping” the server and find out exact locations of Pokemon. While the trackers were technically against the terms of service, the maps were handy to see what Pokemon were close by and where common spawn points were in the game.

Unfortunately, Pokemon Go weren’t thrilled with the third party trackers as they negatively impacted the game’s servers. So, the game used threats of legal action to take down the trackers one by one.

Eventually, Pokemon Go replaced the old tracker with a new one that used PokeStops to show where Pokemon were. But for many players, the new tracker was a pale imitation of the original trackers or the fan-imitations that followed.

Ditto

When Pokemon Go first came out in July, players noticed that six of the original 151 Pokemon were missing from the game. Five of those Pokemon were Legendary or Mythical Pokemon like Articuno or Mewtwo, but the sixth was the gelatinous transforming Pokemon Ditto.

When players first noticed Ditto’s absence, they assumed it was a secret Easter egg hidden in the game. Players spent months looking for Ditto, even though dataminers discovered that Ditto had no moveset and thus was entirely unplayable in the game.

Eventually, Pokemon Go snuck Ditto into the game during its Thanksgiving event. While Ditto’s appearance was a bit anticlimactic, it still remains a goofy Easter egg as it “hides” as a common Pokemon and only transforms into its true form once captured.

A New Generation

By late 2016, players were getting frustrated with Pokemon Go. Most dedicated players were running out of new species of Pokemon to catch, the gym system was struggling, and even the events couldn’t save the game from feeling stagnant at times.

However, Pokemon Go had a trump card: there were still over 650 Pokemon that could be added to the game. The game added its first new Pokemon (besides Ditto) in the form of several baby Pokemon, and then unleashed a larger wave of Pokemon in early 2017.

In addition to the new Pokemon, Pokemon Go added several new items and improvements to the game, including new berries and new evolution items. They also promised more “major updates” later in the year, all of which would add much needed features to the game.

A Long Due Overhaul

For the longest time, Pokemon Go‘s gym system was all but untouchable. While the gyms were supposed to add a competitive aspect to the game, they quickly became unusable for anyone who didn’t use automated bot programs or traveled in packs with other high level players.

After acknowledging the problems in early 2017, Pokemon Go announced plans to completely overhaul the gyms. After a brief “shutdown” last month, the game unveiled a simplified gym system that was much more open and welcoming to casual players.

Niantic also added a new feature designed to make all Pokemon Go players work together: raids. Raids involved super-powerful Pokemon taking over a gym for one hours, forcing players from all three teams to battle alongside one another to defeat it. While most raids aren’t exactly hard, they do add a much needed social aspect that’s been missing from Pokemon Go for months.

Pokemon Go Fest

While Pokemon Go was supposed to have a big party to celebrate its one year anniversary, Pokemon Go Fest turned into a one of the game’s lowest points. Long lines, game breaking glitches and network issues made Pokemon Go unplayable for the thousands who attended.

Pokemon Go was forced to refund attendees for their tickets, suffered a ton of bad press, and is now even facing a lawsuit. The game also cancelled several subsequent events in Europe, presumably to avoid similar problems.

Legendary Pokemon

While Pokemon Go Fest was a disaster, it did produce one positive effect: Legendary Pokemon. Pokemon Go added Legendary Pokemon at the end of Pokemon Go Fest as extra-powerful raid bosses. Over two million Legendary Pokemon were captured on the first day alone, and the appearance of Legendary Pokemon still attract crowds two weeks later.

Not only did Legendary Pokemon bring the crowds back to Pokemon Go, it also brought the game a ton of money. Pokemon Go continues to sit near the top of the “Top Grossing App” charts, thanks to the success of its newest feature.