When it comes to people’s spare dollars, Pokémon Go really is taking that “gotta catch ’em all” mantra seriously!
According to a new report by app analytics firm Sensor Tower, Niantic’s still-ultra-popular AR game, which launched in July 2016, has raked in $1 billion in the first 10 months of 2020 alone. Lifetime spending, meanwhile, hit $4.2 billion globally.
Raking in cash
These figures may come as something of a surprise for anyone who thought Pokémon Go was a flavor-of-the-month game that came and went in 2016. But while it’s not generating as much news coverage as it did when it launched, the game continues to resonate with players.
Photo: Sensor Tower
Sensor Tower notes that:
To date, Pokémon GO has accumulated close to $4.2 billion in player spending globally. The United States has proven to be the most lucrative market, 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.”
The iOS version of the app accounted for 46.6 percent of revenue, while Google Play accounted for 53.4 percent. However, on a per-device basis, iOS pulls in more revenue. Google Play installs were a 466 million, while iOS installs were at only 132 million. That makes Apple’s almost 50 percent of the total revenue even more impressive. The United States remains the most lucrative market.
Pokémon Go: Bigger than ever in 2020
Pokémon Go’s success is particularly impressive given that 2020 has been, well, 2020. A game about walking around outside would seem a hard sell in a year in which walking around outside suddenly became a lot more challenging, depending on the lockdown situation.
Niantic got around this by implementing some stay-at-home features so people could play from the comfort of their homes by walking around indoors. It seems it also likely got a boost from people exercising outdoors, too — maybe helped by the closure of gyms and the lack of other enforced exercise like walking to the office.
Crazy as it might sound, Pokémon Go has had a better year this year than it had in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Last year, Pokémon Go raked in $894 million in player spending.
If you haven’t tried out the game, you can download Pokémon Go for free via the App Store.
Source: Sensor Tower
