Raining on the Poké parade

“Gotta catch ’em all!” That was the city’s motto as Pokémon Go fever took over India, until a few weeks ago when the hacked version of the game was also taken away from users’ reach. With India still hoping to be able to access the official version of this augmented reality game, it has seen a dearth of takers for it, within just a few weeks. We speak to gamers about what could have led to the decline in fascination for the game.

“The ban in India means a lot but we can’t do anything apart from waiting for the official version to release. There are few rumours that it may get released in Asia soon. When the game was first introduced in India, people from the 90s could easily relate to the game and a huge community was beginning to form. But, now that the access is denied, the community is reducing fast and the connection is getting lost. Hope the makers, get the servers beefed up to deal with the huge rush and release it in India soon,” shares Akshay Tiwari, who initiated the Pokémon Go walk in July in the city.

This augmented reality game, which involved catching all the Pokémon, lead to many young people taking more walks than they ever did before! For some, the whole act of being a part of this game was addictive. To understand the extent to which the game could mesmerise some, Sudeep Reddy, founder of a start-up, who was taken over by the game, explains — It’s really sad to be off the game as once you start playing it you get addicted to it. So much so, that you feel bad for not being able to finish the number of stages for the ban. Hope it releases in India soon.”

But for many players, the game didn't live up to the hype that it promised and was nothing more than just a fad — also cited as one of the reasons it has been dying out. A graphic designer, S. Arvind, who also used to design games, analyses this about Pokémon Go — "The game did meet a lot of my expectations as I am sure it did for the majority of players. Ultimately, what started as a nostalgia bundled with an immersive experience turned sour rather quickly. The roll out didn’t happen fast enough. Those who downloaded the game started to get tired of the game mechanics.Most pokestops which served as hubs for players were places of worship — churches, temples and mosques. There was a lot of backlash for both the game and the franchise even though the game didn't officially roll out in India.”