A design strategy for Geo AR mobile game sustainable success emphasizing game completeness

Journal article, 2023

Current geolocation-based augmented reality mobile games lost more than 90% of their active users compared to the peak volume, threatening their sustainable success. Calls for making this type of game “complete” have been made in the literature. This paper uses the grounded theory approach to investigate a unique game, Pokémon GO, which attains its sustainable success to find a general pattern. First, key game design changes of Pokémon GO are identified in the nearly five-year history of this game. Second, relationships between various system updates, design components in the game, and the active user level change are identified. Third, a theory of sustainable success is proposed based on the relationships identified. Finally, the “complete game strategy” has been proposed and detailed for game designers’ consideration.