Though the Pokémon GO craze has downsized recently in the United States, Pokéfever is still alive and well in regions of the world that have received the hit smartphone game more recently.
Take Taiwan, for example. A recent video hit the web showing a massive stampede of thousands of people running down a busy street in Taiwan's capital of Taipei. The reason? Supposedly, there was a Snorlax to be caught just down the street.
Yes, a virtual pocket monster may have caused thousands of people to jump in front of traffic and risk trampling one another. Time has yet to authenticate that a Snorlax was indeed the cause of the stampede, but Chinese media report that the area in which the video was taken is a hotspot for the game that sees thousands of players flock to the district in their quest to catch 'em all.
To be fair, Snorlax is a pretty strong Pokémon worth getting excited about. But is it worth potentially dying for? Probably not. You can see the stampede for youself in the video below.
Of course, it's not just Asian countries that are dealing with problems when it comes to the game. Many areas in the United States have complained about the influx of players to locations like the Holocaust Memorial Museum, graveyards and the 9/11 Memorial in New York City due to the locations being Pokéstops or gyms in-game.
Developer Niantic has since removed the gym/Pokéstop status of places where playing could be seen as insensitive, but there are still some out there. Then there were issues with children running into traffic, trespassing and players attempting to play while driving.
Overall daily active users for Pokémon GO have been on the decline in the United States, though it still ranks at the top of many charts in other regions of the world. Exact numbers aren't available, but there is evidence to suggest active users and daily player engagement for the title is down.
That, of course, makes perfect sense. The longer a game is out, it's naturally going to see less interest as time goes on. All that means is it's up to Niantic to incorporate new features (like trading) to get players interested in the game once more. Just maybe not interested enough to cause a stampede. That seems like a safety issue.
