Niantic’s Peridot not living up to the hype?

Uninstalled Peridot within a week. Let’s focus on the why.

Image: Niantic

When Niantic, the creators of the wildly successful Pokémon Go, announced their new augmented reality (AR) game, Peridot, expectations were high. I have always been impressed by Niantic’s AR games, but this time I am highly disappointed. Anticipation was fueled by the incredible success and cultural phenomenon that Pokémon Go had become. However, despite the initial buzz, Peridot failed to live up to the same level of success.

I decided to deep dive to understand why the Peridot app is unable to retain users unlike its predecessor, Pokemon Go. Being an avid UX researcher, I engaged a few users aged between 22 and 28 for usability testing. As soon as they heard it was a virtual pet app, they were amazed (who wouldn’t be, everyone loves pets) and started using it immediately. They hatched their first egg and started looking for cute pet names. The game seemed thrilling, but unfortunately, the excitement ended sooner than expected.

Dots = Virtual pets

Picture of all the dots (left ot right): Luna, Lyla, Max, Sonu, Neo, Drago

Let’s look at how each day went:

Day 1:
Five of my friends and I hatched our first dots and named them Luna, Lyla, Max, Sonu, Neo, and Drago. Everything about the game seemed great, from the storytelling to the initial onboarding and the cute dots. We happily explored all the features. We foraged for food and balls, fed them, played with them, and some of us even took them for a walk. That day, I opened the app three times and reached level 2 as a keeper.

Day 2:
This day was similar to the first. I tried to engage as much as possible and explore new features like teaching our pets tricks and finding nearby dots. I fulfilled Luna’s daily needs and reached level 3 as a keeper.

Day 3:
At this point, three of my friends uninstalled the app. When asked what happened, one said, “The game became boring” (I will explain this further later). The other two friends and I continued playing but with a slight change. We opened the app only once a day and tried to fulfill as many needs as we could. Luna had enough points to become a teenager, and I reached level 4 as a keeper. No offense, but the baby dots looked much cuter.

Day 4:
Another friend uninstalled the app, leaving only two of us. I opened the app and used it for quite some time because I wanted to see Luna as an adult. Many features are only unlocked when your dot becomes an adult. Everything became very repetitive, and now I hardly use it.

Day 5th and 6th went without opening the app and my one last friend using this app also uninstalled it.

Day 7th:
Managed enough points for Luna to turn into an adult. Found a few feature’s placement pointless and uninstalled the app.

Pictures of Luna in baby, teenage and adulthood stages

1 out of 6 dots reached to adulthood stage, 2 out of 6 dots reached teenage stage and 3 out of 6 dots were at baby stage before the app was uninstalled.

So, what went so wrong that all of us uninstalled the app within a week? Let’s dig deeper and start with the challenges that contributed to Peridot’s struggle to capture the players’ imagination.

1. The pace of growth should be considerably slower, allowing players to embark on a meaningful journey of guiding their Dot through the stages of childhood, adolescence, and finally adulthood. The game’s apparent intention to rush players into obtaining an adult Dot, along with the promotional focus on breeding gameplay, raises concerns.
2. The Nest paywall is unreasonable. The paywall had really put me off. Reviews on the app store validated that many people are upset by this paywall for breeding, Niantic has not stated that nests will be available through any free-to-play mechanics. The aspect I appreciated in Niantic’s previous games, regarding their approach to free-to-play features and monetization, has not been implemented in Peridot. There is no method to obtain nests through gameplay, such as gathering components and crafting, maintaining a certain login streak, or earning in-game currency by completing tasks. The crucial point is that these transactions should be voluntary, offering ways to expedite certain aspects of the game, enhance odds, or add enjoyable accessories. However, if the main feature of the game requires a $5 payment for each attempt, it cannot be truly considered a free game. Peridot becomes solely a pocket pet simulator in which you’ve raised a pet in a matter of hours or a couple days and then there is nothing new or interesting left to do.
3. Lack of physical touch, a lot of love for our pets comes from their touch too. You pat them, rub their belly and they love you back they show appreciation. Whereas, our virtual pets don’t have the power to be cutely annoying, so we tend to forget about them (and notifications are just not enough to care). It doesn’t require your constant attention.
4. Very soon the game becomes a task. Desperation to earn growth points forces you to raise and feed your pet to become an adult, thus unlocking additional features.
5. Peridot also suffered from a subpar onboarding experience, which is crucial in engaging and retaining users. Pokémon Go’s onboarding process was seamless, gradually introducing players to the game’s mechanics and features. In contrast, Peridot overwhelmed users with excessive information right from the start, I personally didn’t get how to teach pet tricks at one go (my friend had to teach me). One of my friends didn’t know how to forage for food and balls. Sometimes it felt like too many things are going on the screen which increase cognitive load.
6. Limited Social Interaction. A key aspect of Pokémon Go’s success was its ability to bring people together through social interaction. The game encouraged players to form teams, join communities, and participate in collaborative gameplay. Unfortunately, Peridot missed the mark by neglecting the social element. Sure it has a request and chat feature, breeding with other dots, Nearby dots feature, dots showcasing feature but to me it all seemed redundant and not at all hooking

My suggests:

> Reevaluate the paywall system for breeding and consider alternative ways for players to obtain nests through gameplay.
> Introduce interactive elements that mimic physical touch to create a stronger emotional connection with virtual pets.
> Introduce new challenges, mini-games, or tasks that unlock as players progress, keeping the gameplay experience fresh and interesting.
> Streamline the onboarding process by gradually introducing players to the game’s mechanics and features.
> Place a greater emphasis on social interaction within the game.

Screenshots from iPhone

Summarising it all I would say that a lot of things in the gameplay could have been better as Niantic is an experienced player. Interface design is good, storytelling is good, interaction design is great and dots are super cute.I expected more but I will keep my ears open if I hear Niantic pivots and restructures in a way that the game offers a pleasurable experience without any cost.

Thanks for reading! Follow ⚡ Kritika Sharma ⚡ for more such content.