'Pokemon Go' news and updates: Game declining, says report

Niantic Lab's augmented reality game "Pokemon Go" is starting to lose steam according to latest tracking data. The downward trend seems to suggest that the game may be heading to steady decline despite a media-hyped start leading to impressive record-breaking downloads at the time of its release. 

Weeks following the peak usage, figures from investment advising firm Axiom Capital Management indicate that the popularity of "Pokemon Go" is declining. The AR game registered an average of 45 million users daily in July but the number fell down to just over 30 million since the beginning of August. All other activity tracking data such as downloads, engagement, and time spent also point to a slump in usage.

"Given the rapid rise in usage of the Pokémon Go app since the launch in July, investors have been concerned that this new user experience has been detracting from time spent on other mobile-focused apps," said Axiom Capital Management analyst Victor Anthony per Bloomberg report.

With this latest development, other app-based firms like social media giants Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter may no longer to have to worry too much about "Pokemon Go's" meteoric rise. In recent weeks, the social media apps have been competing with "Pokemon Go" for traffic and user engagement.

Meanwhile, BGR offered some insightful explanation to "Pokemon Go's" decline. The game was launched albeit prematurely to some extent before all the promised features were added. Moreover, gameplay issues and lack of bug fixes for frequent glitches and server crashes have certainly added layers of disappointment and frustration. For the game to survive, Niantic has to move fast in bringing in features like trading and Legendary Pokemon to drive their users back.