Niantic’s Pokémon Go app has reportedly generated over 1 billion dollars in player spending in the first ten months of 2020 alone.
Still remarkably popular mobile title, Pokémon Go, launched back in the summer of 2016. At the time of launch, this app grabbed the mainstream attention and was hyped all around the globe. According to Sensor Tower’s blog, Pokémon Go earned more than $832 million in player spending by the end of that year.
Although this spending has declined in 2017, it has risen each year since, with 2020 being the best year for this title. This also makes the app’s lifetime revenue cross $4 billion, a huge achievement for the company.
Sensor Tower also reported that Pokémon Go was “ranked as the No. 3 mobile game by global player spending outside of third-party Android stores, such as those in China.” It just falls behind PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Niantic introduced some stay-at-home features, allowing players to continue playing this location-based game while practicing physical distancing. These features surely helped the app continue its growing success.
The app earned the most from the United States, with revenue hitting $1.5 billion, or 36.3 percent of total spending. Japan ranks No. 2 with $1.3 billion in revenue, or 31.3 percent, while Germany ranks No. 3 with $238.6 million, or 5.7 percent.
Google Play accounts for the majority of the title’s revenue, generating more than $2.2 billion, or 53.4 percent of the total. The App Store, meanwhile, accounts for $1.9 billion, or 46.6 percent.
“With two months still to go in 2020, Pokémon GO has already achieved its best calendar year yet after surpassing $1 billion in player spending. The fact that it’s also the No. 3 mobile game by player spending so far this year is evidence of the power of consistent updates, engaging events, keeping an eye on factors that could affect game performance, and acting quickly to stay at the top. In some ways, Pokémon GO shouldn’t have succeeded in 2020, but its resilience should be a lesson to all developers in the space.”
