'Pokemon GO' News: How Niantic Can Bring Back Its Paying Customers [VIDEO]
Niantic recently introduced the buddy system in its latest update, which has probably brought back some of the game's former flame. Since its early success, Pokemon GO has dropped in terms of popularity.
However, some believe that the buddy system can probably keep the game from further decline. This is because, for all intents and purposes, the Buddy System could actually be a great revenue maker for Niantic.
Getting Paying Pokemon GO Players Back
One thing that Pokemon GO suffered from since its release was the massive exodus of paying players from the game. In fact, industry analysts state that Pokemon GO has probably lost about 80 percent of its paying customers since its initial launch. Despite this, however, the augmented reality game is still one of the most lucrative mobile titles in the market right now, far out-grossing its competition.
With the Buddy System in place, however, Niantic might have inadvertently created a goldmine for itself. This is because the Buddy System provides something that is very much in-demand in Pokemon GO: candies. With Pokemon GO's current setup, candies are really earned through hard work, and the Buddy System bolsters this.
Monetizing the Buddy System
Pokemon GO earns money through microtransactions in the game. However, most of the items in the in-game store are very much optional. Among all the items for sale within Pokemon GO, only incubators are the only ones with real in-game value.
Now, if Niantic opts to sell Buddy Pokemon slots to users, then it might have something very lucrative. This could easily be done by unlocking the capability to offer a Buddy slot at a certain level. Once the level is reached, a player can simply purchase another slot, so that they can start training two Buddy Pokemon at once.
What's even more brilliant is that Niantic can actually charge a premium for the unlocking of the extra Buddy slot. Avid Pokemon GO players know the value of candies that Buddy Pokemon earn; thus, there is a pretty good chance that gamers would not mind paying a premium price for the chance to earn twice, or even thrice as many candies than usual.
For now, at least, the hundreds of millions of Pokemon GO players are enjoying the first iteration of the Buddy System.
