Pokemon GO Hits $8B User Spending High 

The augmented reality (AR) title Pokemon GO has reached $8B in user spending, marking a new milestone for Niantic.

According to a report shared by mobile analyst AppMagic, Pokemon GO has been delivering large revenue streams over the past 8 years.

In AppMagic’s analysis, it was noted that the game’s net revenue was equal to $567M in 2023, 13% less than in 2022. While the game is not able to repeat its two most outstanding monthly revenue peaks of $136M in August 2016 and $117M in August 2020, it is still generating high numbers of earnings with $44M in March 2024.

There are several factors that contribute to Pokemon GO‘s continuous high earnings, which include the sense of nostalgia, belonging, hoarding instincts, breadcrumbs effects, and more, as pointed out by AppMagic.

Looking into Niantic’s portfolio, the company has published 19 mobile apps with 12 of them being games, and only 3 can be labeled successful – which all happen to be AR locational-based titles. Despite a recent release, Monster Hunter Now has generated $164M in gross revenue, while Pikmin Bloom earned $44M over its lifetime.

When it comes to AR games, Niantic is still at the top with no game coming close to beating Pokemon GO‘s success.

Square Enix’s Dragon Quest Walk was at one point a contender, but as of today, it is only earning just around a third of Pokemon GO. Of course, Dragon Quest Walk is only available in Japan.

A game to highlight is Jurassic World Alive, which was released far back in 2018 and has not displayed any notable peaks since, but was still able to generate a total of almost $180M in gross revenue.

AR Games Market Dynamics

Amongst other things, AppMagic also noted that AR games tend to be reluctant to accept new players. Despite having over 100 new releases since April 2022, only a few secured any significant income. And that is Monster Hunter Now with its gross earnings of $164M and Nobunaga’s Ambition (信長の野望 出陣) with its $21M made entirely in Japan.

From the analysis, you can see that despite over 8 years on the market, Pokemon GO is still going strong, with many factors such as social and physiological effects that keep players engaged. While Pokemon GO is successful, AppMagic noted that the genre has been stagnating over the past several years, where not many new releases reached a metric that can be confidently described as successful.

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