Pokémon GO surpasses $3.6 Billion in lifetime revenue, and is still on the rise despite global pandemic

As Pokémon GO celebrates its fourth anniversary, it has also surpassed $3.6 Billion in lifetime revenue, since its launch on July 6, 2016.

This is according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates, which points out that 2019 was the game’s best year to date, generating $905 million globally. This is an improvement on the previous best year in 2016, which was the height of the Pokémon GO craze, earning an estimated $832.5 million in just six months following its July launch.

Perhaps most impressive is the game’s growth in 2020. In the first half of this year, the game has already generated $445.3 million, putting it on course to match or even exceed the record spending in 2019. This is despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which could reasonably be expected to impact the revenue of a location-tracking game like Pokémon GO.

In response to the pandemic, developer Niantic have released updates to the game to make it more compatible with lockdown and social distancing measures, such as lowering the step count for egg hatching, introducing raiding remotely and giving away Pokémon lures in care packages.

The United States has been the most lucrative country for the game, generating close to $1.3 billion, or 35.4 per cent of player spending. Japan comes in second place, with Germany in third.

Google Play accounts for the majority of the game’s revenue, accounting for $1.9 billion, or 53.6 per cent of player spending. Meanwhile the App Store has generated close to $1.7 billion, or 46.4 per cent total revenue.

The game has seen 576.7 million unique downloads worldwide, the majority of which were in the US, accounting for 05.2 million, or 18.2 per cent. Brazil comes in second, with close to 63 million downloads, and Mexico ranks third with over 36 million installs, or 6.3 per cent.