Pokemon Go kicked off the top of the App Store by Bitmoji, potentially signalling that a backlash is coming

Bitmoji lets people create stickers out of themselves and post them around the internet – and is the new rival to Pokemon Go

Andrew Griffin
Wednesday 27 July 2016 10:17 BST
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Pokemon GO players meet at Sydney Opera House
Pokemon GO players meet at Sydney Opera House (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

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Pokémon Go has finally been removed as the top free app on the App Store.

The game – which has smashed through records and is one of the most popular games ever made – has been deposed by an app that lets people make emoji of themselves.

Pokémon Go has become a global phenomenon in the time since it came out. It hit the US App Store on 7 July and has been at the top ever since – along with record sales that have brought an expected $10 billion in revenue in the next two years.

But each big success must come to an end, and some people have already been predicting the end of Pokémon Go. It has been hit by troubles including people being robbed while looking for creates in the app, and server troubles that have meant that it can often be completely unavailable for players that try to load it.

The App Store’s chart measures the number of people downloading an app, rather than the number of people using it. As such, the slippage is probably in part because of the app’s huge initial success – everyone downloaded it when it came out, and so it will gradually reach saturation and drop off.

Pokémon Go continues to be the number one free app in 36 countries, according to App Annie. And it is still the highest grossing app, which is the metric that matters to both Apple and developers, since it measures the amount of money it generates through in-app purchases.

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