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Has Pok茅mon Go's heyday come and gone?

Though the game is still extremely popular, analysts say maintaining current levels of engagement will be a challenge in the coming months and years. 

Has Pok茅mon Go come and gone?

Data from SurveyMonkey Intelligence suggests that the massively popular game in the US: The number of users active each day, the app鈥檚 daily download rates, and Google search activity around the term 鈥淧ok茅mon Go鈥� are all on the decline.聽

While the game is still unprecedentedly ubiquitous, with approximately of all Americans playing on any given day, some industry analysts have questioned just how sustainable Pok茅mon Go鈥檚 popularity really is.聽

There are a number of factors in the game's favor: a deeply-ingrained cultural fondness and nostalgia for Pok茅mon, leveled game play to keep players focused on small achievements, and its unconventional augmented-reality premise, to name a few.聽

The social potential of the game, which requires players to get out of the house and walk around their neighborhoods, is also considered an important strength.聽

"Video games have always come with some related anxiety that they encourage withdrawal from the 'real world,' a sedentary lifestyle, and anti-sociality," writes聽Andrew Breiner for Salon. "The fact that Pokemon Go has has surely helped its popularity."聽

At the same time, others say, the app's active nature could cause players to more quickly tire of wandering the streets in search of聽Pok茅mon.

"While that鈥檚 part of what makes the game novel and appealing at the moment, it鈥檚 easy to see how over time," says聽James Surowiecki in a column for The New Yorker. "Pok茅mon Go is also the rare video game whose economic success will be determined in part by the weather. It鈥檚 a great summertime game, but will anyone bundle up to go Pikachu-hunting when winter rolls around?"聽

It's common for mobile and video games to enjoy a moment in the sun before their popularity wanes. Some, of course, have been able to maintain high usage levels even when they are no longer in the spotlight. But the games that retain players even after the trend dies, such as Tetris or "match three"-style games like Candy Crush or Bejeweled, points out industry analyst Dan Porter in a LinkedIn essay.聽

"Anyone who has ever dreamed about matching falling blocks can understand that matching and tidying up are psychological twists that cause both pleasure and repeated game play," Mr. Porter writes. "Pok茅mon Go is exhilarating, but lacks this human compulsion (although it does have collecting, another core compulsion)."

Another challenge for Pok茅mon Go could, ironically, be overcoming its own popularity. After the app's explosion onto the mobile scene, with nearly six million downloads on the day it was released and 25 million daily players just one week after its debut, "it's likely the trend from here," writes Christopher Groux for International Business Times.

"Even the slightest drop in activity over the next few months could easily create the perception that the concept is losing traction," he continues. "Once that doubt takes hold, audiences may become less interested."聽

Yet, as SurveyMonkey points out in its analysis, this is only the beginning for聽Pok茅mon Go: "As we鈥檝e seen from other games there鈥檚 still every chance that the game attracts millions of users (and makes millions of dollars) for months, and even years to come."聽

And while we may start to see the end of the聽Pok茅mon Go craze in the US, in other parts of the world it hasn't even begun yet: are still waiting to start catching them all.聽