According to a report by market analyst Sensor Tower, players of Pokémon’s mobile titles have spent almost $2.5 billion on in-game purchases. Unsurprisingly, Pokémon GO is the biggest contributor to this astounding number, pouring in $2.45 billion in earnings or 98% of the total figure. Developed by Niantic using augmented reality (AR) technology, Pokémon Go launched in 2016 to much hype and excitement. The game encountered several controversies in its first few months as it was seen to have caused some security issues and public disturbances in different countries. Despite these, it remains to be the most popular mobile game for the franchise, with over 147 million monthly active users as of 2018.
A very far second to the AR game is Pokémon Shuffle Mobile, which earned $25 million or 10 percent of the total number. The other Pokémon games that contributed to its mobile game earnings are Pokémon Shuffle, Pokémon Duel, Pokémon Quest, Pokémon Magikarp Jump, and Pokémon TCG Online.
Players from the USA account for 35% ($875 million) of the games’ total revenue, with Japan coming in next at 29% ($725 million). Note however, that these numbers do not include revenues from China, where only Pokémon Shuffle and Pokémon TCG Online are made available to players.
Pokémon’s mobile games have been downloaded 640 million times, with Pokémon GO responsible for 86% of the total downloads for all Pokémon titles (around 550 million). Pokémon Duel comes in at 2nd place, with 39 million downloads.
Source: Variety