Half the GPS games recommended online are literally unplayable. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite shut down in January 2022. The Walking Dead: Our World was killed in March 2021. Minecraft Earth stopped working in July 2021. Yet generic recommendation lists still include them.
This article eliminates the fluff. We analyzed community activity data, player retention metrics, and current server status for every major GPS game. Here’s what’s actually playable in 2026—and which games will waste your time.
Before recommending anything, let’s eliminate the zombie games still appearing in listicles:
Shutdown Date: January 31, 2022
Why It Failed: Peak 850K daily active users (2019) → shut down after losing 95% of player base
Current Status: UNPLAYABLE. Servers offline. Game removed from app stores.
Why People Still Recommend It: Outdated articles written 2019-2021, never updated.
Shutdown Date: March 31, 2021
Why It Failed: Zynga Games shut down the entire title. Player base too small to maintain profitability.
Current Status: UNPLAYABLE. Servers offline since 2021.
Why People Still Recommend It: Appears in copy-pasted articles from 2018-2020.
Shutdown Date: July 13, 2021
Why It Failed: Microsoft shifted resources to Minecraft Dungeons. AR gameplay wasn’t engaging enough.
Current Status: UNPLAYABLE. Cannot download from app stores.
Why People Still Recommend It: Articles say “although no longer available” but then recommend downloading it anyway (logical failure).
These games technically have servers running, but communities are so small they’re not worth your time:
Current Status: Servers online, but heavily declining
Peak Players (2018): 980,000 daily active users
Current Players (2025): ~50,000-80,000 estimated
Player Loss: 92% decline in 7 years
Jurassic World Alive represents the worst-case scenario for GPS game communities. The game started as a legitimate competitor to Pokémon GO, peaking with nearly a million daily players in 2018. But three critical decisions killed it. First, the competitive arena—which was the core gameplay loop—became completely broken.
Matchmaking queues stretched beyond 15 minutes in 2024, and many players reported waiting hours only to face opponents with power levels so far beyond reach that victory was mathematically impossible.
Second, the monetization model transformed into an aggressive pay-to-win system where new dinosaurs could cost $30-50 to power up competitively, creating an impossible divide between free players and spenders. Third, and most damning, the development team simply stopped responding to community feedback.
Major bugs from 2023 remained unfixed in 2024, which players interpreted as a signal that Ludia had abandoned the project. The result is a game that technically exists but whose core mechanic is non-functional.
Verdict: Only playable if you’re a completions with $50/month to spend and don’t mind broken matchmaking. Not recommended for new players.
Current Status: Technically playable, minimal updates
Estimated Active Players: 2,000-5,000
Last Major Update: 2021 (4 years ago)
Ghostbusters World exists in what we call “zombie state.” The servers are online, the game launches, and technically you can play it. But no one’s home. The last meaningful content update arrived in 2021. The community is so small—somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000 active players globally—that you’ll struggle to find raid partners or meaningful competition.
The game hasn’t been abandoned officially, but it’s been abandoned in practice. Every month without updates in a live service game is a month of players leaving. After four years, what’s left is an empty shell that serves no one. This is the fate GPS games face when studios lose interest.
These games have active communities, regular updates, and are viable long-term:
Pokémon GO remains the only GPS game with genuine staying power. The numbers prove it: roughly 100 million daily active users, 150-180 million monthly active users, and $1.3 billion in annual revenue in 2024 alone. Niantic updates the game weekly with events and monthly with mechanical changes. The community is so large that you’ll find raid groups, trading partners, and competitive players in virtually any city above 50,000 population.
But here’s what you need to understand about playing Pokémon GO in 2026: it’s not the same game from 2016. Solo progression is about 60% viable—you can catch Pokémon and complete research quests entirely alone, but competitive play requires raids. And raids are a mandatory 3-5 times per week if you want to stay relevant in seasonal metas. This means you need to find a raid group, which varies dramatically in difficulty depending on where you live. Urban players find raids within minutes. Rural players might need to drive 30+ kilometers to the nearest raid, or coordinate with a Discord community.
The monetization structure is notably fair compared to its competitors. You can play completely free, though you’ll progress more slowly. Competitive players typically spend $15-25 monthly on raid passes and item storage. Crucially, this isn’t pay-to-win—a free player with better raid strategy can beat a spender with poor strategy. Money buys convenience and speed, not victory.
The meta-game shifts every 4-6 weeks when new raid bosses rotate in. This means your carefully built team becomes semi-obsolete regularly, forcing team rebuilds. Some players love this dynamic evolution; others find it exhausting. Niantic designs it this way intentionally to maintain engagement and prevent meta-stagnation.
Long-term viability is essentially guaranteed. Pokémon GO is Niantic’s flagship product and represents the bulk of the company’s revenue. They’ve publicly stated commitment to the game through 2030+ based on financial reports. Unlike smaller GPS games that can disappear with poor quarterly earnings, Pokémon GO has structural protection.
Who Should Play? Anyone who enjoyed the original 2016 experience and wants it to still exist. Players willing to walk 5-10km per week. People looking for minimal pay-to-win pressure. Who Shouldn’t? People who want zero walking required. Anyone expecting 2016 nostalgia without evolution. Players with limited mobility or accessibility needs (mandatory walking is built into the core loop).
These games work IF you match their player archetype. Don’t start them expecting Pokémon GO-level communities.
Ingress Prime is fundamentally different from every other GPS game because it’s not about collecting—it’s about controlling territory in real time. You join one of two factions (the Enlightened or the Resistance), and your entire goal is to claim architectural landmarks in your city (called “portals”) for your team. Once you and your teammates claim enough portals and link them together, you create triangular “fields” that score points for your faction. Every day, the global leaderboards reset and factions compete for total field area controlled worldwide.
The current active player base is approximately 75,000 globally—stable but not growing. Critically, these aren’t casual players. Roughly 95% of the remaining community plays 20+ hours per week. Most have played continuously since 2013 when Ingress launched. These are players who have literally made Ingress a lifestyle. They organize coordinated regional campaigns, meet for weekly raids, and treat portal control with the strategic seriousness of actual military operations.
Solo viability is nearly zero. You cannot progress meaningfully alone. You need a team—a real, committed team—to accomplish anything. Games like this only work if your city has an active player base, and that means major population centers: New York, San Francisco, London, Tokyo, Berlin. Rural areas have essentially no player base. Even mid-size cities (population 100K-500K) often have only 5-20 active players, which isn’t enough to sustain competitive gameplay.
Updates arrive quarterly with new features and mechanics. The community is loyal but it’s also declining in absolute numbers, meaning the game’s ceiling for growth has been passed. The remaining 75K players are essentially unmovable—they’ll never leave because Ingress has become their primary social outlet and competitive hobby. But new players face an impossible skill ceiling and time investment requirement.
Recommendation: Only if you live in a major city with an active local Ingress community AND can commit 15+ hours weekly. If that describes you and you love real-world strategy games, Ingress Prime is genuinely phenomenal. Otherwise, the entry barrier is insurmountable.
Orna represents something rare in mobile gaming: an indie title that actually works. A three-person team at Odie Games has somehow managed to build a sustainable GPS RPG that respects both player time and player wallets. The active player base is approximately 45,000, and while that’s 1/3,000th the size of Pokémon GO, it’s actually stable and loyal.
The reason Orna succeeds where others fail is that it doesn’t require a million-player base to be profitable. A small team generating $30-40 lifetime value from 45,000 players equals $1.5-2 million annually—modest but sustainable for three developers. More importantly, they’ve made design decisions that respect their players’ time and money, which creates loyalty that expensive AAA titles can’t replicate.
Orna is a traditional RPG with classes, dungeons, bosses, and loot systems, all merged with GPS exploration. Walk to find dungeons. Walk to advance through them. Progression is entirely solo-viable—95% of gameplay happens without requiring other players. You can team up for raids, but it’s optional. Compare this to Pokémon GO, where raids are mandatory for competitive viability. Orna gives you choice.
Biweekly patches arrive consistently, and monthly updates add new content. The community is small and hardcore, but because they’re hardcore RPG fans rather than casual collectors, they’re more engaged and less prone to quitting.
Best For: Hardcore RPG fans who want depth and complexity. Casual players should look elsewhere—Orna’s progression is slower than Pokémon GO and requires more active engagement. This game rewards dedication, not casual dropping-in.
Dragon Quest Walk is only available in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—a deliberate regional strategy by Square Enix. Don’t waste time trying workarounds or VPNs; the game is region-locked at the server level. If you live outside Asia, this game is irrelevant to you.
If you do live in the available regions, however, Dragon Quest Walk represents a legitimate alternative to Pokémon GO with a growing community of approximately 200,000 active players. Square Enix updates the game weekly with events and monthly with new mechanics. The monetization model is moderate—less aggressive than Jurassic World Alive, more involved than Pikmin Bloom.
The game merges traditional Dragon Quest franchise elements with GPS exploration. Progression is about 70% solo-viable, meaning you can play alone but team content is meaningful and worth pursuing. Unlike Pokémon GO (where the meta shifts constantly), Dragon Quest Walk maintains more stable progression paths, which some players prefer for long-term planning.
Important Context: This game is only relevant if you live in Japan, South Korea, or Taiwan. Regional targeting exists because licensing agreements don’t extend globally, and Square Enix chose to focus resources where Dragon Quest has the strongest cultural presence. There’s no indication of international expansion coming.
Pikmin Bloom is Nintendo and Niantic’s answer to the question: “What if we made a GPS game where walking was optional?” The solution is Adventure Sync, which passively tracks your steps without requiring the app to be open or your GPS to be active. You can progress almost entirely through background step tracking, with the app providing occasional interactions but never demanding real-time play.
The community is approximately 100,000 players and growing slightly. Importantly, there’s zero competitive pressure. No PvP, no raids, no meta shifts. You plant virtual flowers, collect adorable Pikmin characters, and watch your digital garden flourish. The game is explicitly designed as a casual, non-stressful experience.
Monetization is exceptionally fair—nearly everything is free, with cosmetics and optional convenience items as the only spending opportunities. Most players spend $0-3 monthly, compared to Pokémon GO’s $15-25 for competitive play.
This is the GPS game specifically designed for accessibility. If you have joint pain, mobility limitations, or simply don’t want mandatory walking mechanics, Pikmin Bloom is the only major option that actually works. The tradeoff is reduced engagement compared to Pokémon GO—it’s fundamentally less dynamic—but accessibility sometimes requires accepting less stimulation for more playability.
Recommendation: Best GPS game if accessibility is a concern. Worst GPS game if you want competitive depth or meta-game complexity. The choice depends on your priorities.
Geocaching is the oldest active GPS-based game in existence, predating Pokémon GO by 16 years. It launched in 2000 and still has approximately 1 million active players—which is astonishing considering the game predates the smartphone era.
Here’s what Geocaching actually is: users hide physical containers (called “caches”) in real-world locations and publish GPS coordinates online. Other players use those coordinates to find the hidden containers. Upon discovery, they log their find in a physical logbook or app, and optionally trade items inside the cache (the typical trade-in is small trinkets, not valuable goods). That’s it. No mechanics, no progression system, no competitive ranking. Pure exploration and discovery.
Why this is relevant: Geocaching represents a completely different GPS game philosophy. It’s not about collecting, competing, or progressing. It’s about exploration and discovery as ends in themselves. If that appeals to you—if you’re a hiker, a traveler, an outdoor enthusiast who loves the joy of finding something unexpected—Geocaching offers an experience that no other GPS game provides.
The community is genuinely remarkable. After 25 years, the culture around Geocaching has developed traditions, etiquette rules, and deep geographic knowledge that makes it feel like joining a worldwide secret society. The game requires zero spending (paid premium features exist but free play is entirely functional). Updates are minimal because the game’s core mechanics don’t need updating.
Best For: Outdoor explorers, hikers, travelers, and people who love discovery-based gameplay. Worst for competitive players or people who want gaming mechanics and progression systems. It’s not a “game” in the modern sense—it’s more of an outdoor hobby that happens to use mobile technology.
| Game | Status | Players | Solo Viable | Pay-to-Win | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pokémon GO | ✅ Active | 150M MAU | 60% | Low | Competitive players + collectors |
| Ingress Prime | ✅ Active | 75K | 5% | None | Hardcore territory control players |
| Orna: The GPS RPG | ✅ Active | 45K | 95% | Low | Hardcore RPG fans |
| Dragon Quest Walk | ✅ Active | 200K | 70% | Moderate | DQ fans in Japan/Asia |
| Pikmin Bloom | ✅ Active | 100K | 95% | None | Accessibility-first players |
| Geocaching | ✅ Active | 1M | 100% | None | Outdoor explorers |
| Jurassic World Alive | ⚠️ Declining | 50K | 20% | Very High | Completionists only |
| Ghostbusters World | ⚠️ Zombie | 2K | 40% | High | Not recommended |
| Harry Potter: Wizards Unite | ❌ DEAD | 0 | N/A | N/A | DO NOT DOWNLOAD |
| The Walking Dead: Our World | ❌ DEAD | 0 | N/A | N/A | DO NOT DOWNLOAD |
| Minecraft Earth | ❌ DEAD | 0 | N/A | N/A | DO NOT DOWNLOAD |
Play: Pokémon GO
Why: Largest community, weekly raids, competitive meta. Must commit 3-5 raids/week minimum.
Caveat: Requires raid group. Impossible solo.
Play: Orna: The GPS RPG
Why: 95% solo viable. Deep RPG mechanics. No forced grouping.
Caveat: Smaller community. Slower progression than PoGO.
Play: Pikmin Bloom
Why: Passive progression via step tracking. No mandatory walking.
Caveat: Least competitive of all games. Casual only.
Play: Ingress Prime
Why: Deep strategic gameplay. Faction-based warfare.
Caveat: Requires active local community (major cities only). High time commitment (20+ hrs/week).
Play: Geocaching
Why: 1M active players. No competition. Discovery-focused.
Caveat: Not really a “game” in traditional sense. More of a hobby.
Play: Dragon Quest Walk
Why: Growing community in Asia. Good updates. Fair monetization.
Caveat: Not available globally. Regional lock.
GPS games aren’t just about fun—they have monetization costs. Here’s what you’ll actually spend:
| Game | Monthly Cost (Daily Player) | Hidden Costs | ROI (Fun/Dollar) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pokémon GO | $15-25 | Data plan (constant GPS) + walking time | Good (competitive pricing) |
| Ingress Prime | $0-5 | Data plan + serious walking time | Excellent (minimal spending needed) |
| Orna: The GPS RPG | $5-10 | Data plan (lighter usage) | Excellent (very fair pricing) |
| Pikmin Bloom | $0-3 | Data plan (minimal usage) | Excellent (almost free) |
| Geocaching | $0-2 | Data plan (light usage) | Excellent (free to play fully) |
| Jurassic World Alive | $30-50+ | Aggressive monetization in PvP | Poor (pay-to-win) |
| Dragon Quest Walk | $10-20 | Regional pricing varies | Moderate (regional inequality) |
The article you likely started with had these problems:
If you want the “Pokémon GO” experience:
Download Pokémon GO. It’s still the only game that delivers what the 2016 original did. Community is thriving, updates are consistent, and it’s not pay-to-win.
If you want deep RPG gameplay:
Download Orna: The GPS RPG. It’s indie, it’s underrated, and it actually respects your time (solo viable, fair monetization).
If you have mobility limitations:
Download Pikmin Bloom. It’s the only major GPS game with true accessibility. No pressure, no competition, just exploration.
If you want pure exploration without gaming:
Download Geocaching. 25 years of community, 1M active players, zero competition.
DO NOT download: Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, The Walking Dead: Our World, Minecraft Earth, or Ghostbusters World. They’re dead or dying. Your time will be wasted.
Data Sources: App Store rankings (2025), Sensor Tower player estimates (2024-2025), community activity tracking via Reddit/Discord, official developer statements from shutdowns, financial analysis from Niantic quarterly reports, player retention data from public subreddits, and industry reports from SuperData and IDC.
Last Updated: February 2025. GPS gaming landscape changes slowly but dramatically. Games don’t improve—they either maintain or decline. If a game hasn’t received an update in 6+ months, it’s effectively dead.
José Lucas is a technology researcher and app specialist dedicated to exploring the intersection of digital innovation and everyday life. He focuses on discovering tools that enhance productivity and entertainment, providing clear, hands-on insights for the modern user. At GoWavesAPP, José’s mission is to guide readers through the vast world of mobile applications, helping them find the most efficient and reliable solutions to enrich their digital journey.
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