Pokemon GO's PvP mode was designed to bring back lapsed players, and the plan worked

Pokemon GO was an absolute phenomenon when it launched, with millions upon millions of players checking it out. As time rolled on, the game maintained a large and dedicated userbase, but it lost millions of players as well. What could Niantic do to woo some of those players back, and also get lapsed fans to jump back in? According to Niantic’s Rob Giusti, the team saw PvP as the opportunity to win those players back.

“What we’re really looking for most of all was to increase our number of players. We really wanted to reacquire the lapsed players that hadn’t launched the game in the while.”

The team put a lot of work into PvP battles in order to try and achieve their goal of getting players to return. According to Giusti, the efforts were a big success. Pokemon GO saw a bump in both daily and monthly active users (for both returning and new players), positive effects on retention, extended play sessions, and positive social media coverage.