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2024 Pokemon Go Statistics That Prove This Game Is Still Popular

Let’s face the facts here. At some point, we all wanted to become like Ash and have our very own Pokemon to do battle with. The TV shows, the video game franchise, and the trading card game did little to satiate our thirst to be the very best, that no one ever was.

Pokemon Go Sample Pokemon Go Statistics

Sure, the different video game titles made us Pokemon Masters in our own right, but there was something missing. The feeling you get when you captured a Pokemon in a video game wasn’t as satisfying as Ash made it look like on TV.

Then came Pokémon Go in 2016, and after its release in 2016, all people wanted to do was Pokémon Go. But what was the hype about? Why did Pokémon Go make the kind of impact that it had on the world?

For the uninformed, Pokémon Go is an AR or Augmented Reality downloaded mobile game, available on both Apple App Store and Android Google Play Store. The premise of the game was simple and pretty much standard to the previously released video games.

The gameplay of Pokémon Go has its users encounter different Pokemons in the real life using their mobile GPS and Camera. Users will catch and train these different Pokemons and go up against other trainers or other Pokemons.

Pokémon Go was developed by Niantic, a game developer that specialized in augmented reality games. They originally started out as an internal startup within Google. The Pokémon Company, which handled brand management, marketing, licensing, and production, was the middleman.

The game was launched in 2016 and instantaneously became an overnight hit. On its first month, it generated $207 million in revenue even though the release dates were staggered. It ended up being the most downloaded mobile game and earned $100 million within 20 days after its release [1].

In this article, we’ll be going over the different numbers and look at the data behind Pokémon Go.

Key Pokemon Go Statistics

  • Pokémon Go earned $107 million in revenue in its first month, breaking one of five Guinness World Records [1].
  • Niantic, the augmented reality company behind Pokémon Go, is valued at $9 billion [3].
  • Revenue from in game purchases was $904.62 million in 2021 [4].
  • 38% of Pokémon Go’s annual revenue is from the USA [4].
  • Average live player count for the last 30 days worldwide was 78 million [10].
  • Average daily active users for the last 30 days worldwide was 8 million [8].
  • Google Play accounted for 487 million downloads as of July 2021 [10].
  • Apple App Store accounted for 144.8 million downloads as of July 2021 [10].

How Much Does Pokemon Go Make?

  • Niantic got a $300 million investment from Coatue at a $9 billion valuation [2].
  • Niantic’s Valuation from 2015 to 2021 are as follows (in billions) [3]:
    • 2015 – 0.15
    • 2016 – 3.65
    • 2019 – 4
    • 2021 – 9
  • In 2021, Pokemon Go generated $904.62 in annual revenue in in-app purchases worldwide [4].
  • Revenue share from the following regions are as follows [4]:
    • $348.73 million in Americas
    • $418.07 million in Asia Pacific
    • $137.07 million in EMEA
  • 38% of Pokémon Go’s annual revenue came from the United States, with Japan coming in second at $286 million, and Germany with $54 million.
  • Player spending in Pokémon Go at the start of the global Covid-19 Pandemic (March 16 2020) peaked at $7.8 million in the United States and $23 million worldwide [5], [6].
    • The United States accounts for 34% of the worldwide annual revenue for that week of observation [5], [6].
  • Pokemon Go Fest 2019 generated $249 million in revenue. The locations for the Pokémon Go Fest were in Chicago, Montreal, Dortmund, and Yokohama [7].
    • Chicago generated $120 million.
    • Montreal generated $71 million
    • Dortmund generated $56 million
  • More than 64,000 trainers were in attendance in Chicago, 86,000 in Dortmund, and 39,000 in Montreal.
  • Pokemon Go revenue from player spending hit $1 billion by the end of 2020 [10].
  • Even during the Pandemic, Pokémon Go Fest 2020 generated $17.5 million in revenue [8].
    • The event was online and made possible thanks to Niantic, even though some players still went outside.
    • Player spending for the first day was $8.9 million and $8.6 million for the next day.
  • Pokémon Go Fest 2021 generated $21 million in revenue [9].
    • Similar to the previous year’s event, the Pokemon Go Fest 2021 was held online.
    • Player spending was $11 million for the first day and $9.8 million for the second day.
    • The event was celebrated by trainers coming from 20 different countries.

How Many Players Does Pokémon Go Have?

  • Live player count for Pokémon Go within the last 30 days (or as of July 2022) was 78.2 million [10].
  • Daily active users for that same period of observance peaked at 8.4 million [10]. The number of Pokemon Go Players have surpassed WoW players in terms of daily active users. According to World of Warcraft Statistics, daily active users hover at about 1 million.
  • The recorded number of Pokémon Go Players worldwide in 2020 is 603 million [11].
    • Asia Pacific had the highest share of player count with 311 million, accounting for 51% of the total number of players worldwide.
  • The average age of Pokémon Go Players is 26 [12].
    • The 21 to 25 year old age group comprises 32.6% of the Pokémon Go players, followed by the 26 to 30 years old age group with 25.4% [12].
    • 58.7% of players are male, and 41.3% are female [12].
  • Pokémon Go players spend an average of 1 to 2 hours a day playing, but there’s a small group of players who spend at least 2 to 3 hours daily.
  • Pokémon Go has 35,000 sponsored locations that 500 million players have visited [14], [15], [16].
    • Niantic earns anywhere between $0.15 and $0.50 for every user visiting a sponsored location
    • Sponsored locations include Softbank, Sprint, and Starbucks.
    • Niantic also pushed for a program that allowed small businesses to become Pokeétops or even Pokémon gyms.

Pokémon Go Download Statistics

  • Cumulative downloads for Pokémon Go are as follows (in millions) [17]:
    • 2016 – 260
    • 2017 – 335
    • 2018 – 394
    • 2019 – 452
    • 2020 – 514
    • 2021 – 572
  • Pokémon Go was downloaded 487 million times from the Google Play Store as of July 2021 [18], [19].
  • Pokémon Go was downloaded 144.8 million times from the Apple App Store as of July 2021 [18], [19].
  • Pokémon Go has hit a total of more than a billion downloads since the game launched.

How Many People Have Stopped Playing Since Launch?

As of July 2022, there are still close to 71 million players logging in monthly, but the daily active user number is about 8 million. This is a farcry from the 500 million downloads that the mobile game generated on its first year of launching.

But Pokémon Go still generates an average of 8 million players within the last 30 days, so it’s safe to say that the number of people who play Pokémon Go goes up and down frequently. The app may have lost 80% of its playerbase since launching, but with millions of players still playing Pokémon Go, the game still have some punch left.

Unlike franchises like World of Warcraft, Pokemon Go never really went on to make expansions or addons or DLCs. They stuck with what their system currently has, and are improving on the go.

Do People Still Play Pokémon Go?

Pokemon Go Teams Pokemon Go Statistics

The numbers don’t lie. Yes, the fad has died after the game launched in 2016. No one’s flocking to different venues the way they used to when the game launched. The people that play Pokémon Go are those that have built up a strong team and/or have invested a lot of time and money into the game. We can’t blame them. The usage statistics even show that the daily active users are still within the six to seven figures globally. Player spending a couple of years ago during the onset of the pandemic hit $1 billion, and this was with people being locked down.

It’s worth noting that people may have stopped playing Pokemon Go because other mobile games such as Genshin Impact have come out and dominated the market. In fact, Genshin Impact player statistics revealed that the monthly average for mobile users hovers close to 4 million.

In game purchases will probably still be in the seven or eight figure range by the end of 2022, but more revenue might still be recorded. Pokemon Go players will still be spending money for in game purchases. With new mobile devices being launched, Pokemon Go players might be more motivated to play even more.

The Pokémon Go community is still thriving and vibrant. Each country or city plays hosts to a couple of hardcore groups, regardless if they belong to Team Mystic, Team Valor, or Team Instinct.

How many Pokemon could Niantic add to keep the game fresh? As long as the Pokémon franchise continues to crank out different Pokémons, Nintendo’s market within the mobile gaming industry will still be noticeable with Pokémon Go.

Will Pokémon Go still be one of the top mobile games this year? Who knows? It was the fastest mobile game to earn a lot of money that it broke a world record. They were the top grossing mobile game, and games like Genshin Impact are now dominating the mobile gaming industry. But with the numbers shown for usage stats, Pokémon revenue, and other data, we can safely conclude that Pokémon Go is here to stay for iOS devices and Android Devices.

References

[1] https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2016/8/pokemon-go-catches-five-world-records-439327

[2] https://nianticlabs.com/news/coatue/?hl=en#:~:text=Niantic%20Receives%20%24300%20Million%20Investment%20From%20Coatue%20%E2%80%93%20Niantic%20Labs&text=Niantic%20Inc.%2C%20developer%20of%20the,a%20valuation%20of%20%249%20billion.

[3] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/nianticlabs

[4] https://www.statista.com/statistics/665623/revenue-from-pokemon-go-global-region/

[5] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109967/pokemon-go-player-spending-coronavirus-usa/

[6] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109966/pokemon-go-player-spending-coronavirus/

[7] https://www.pocketgamer.biz/news/76928/pokmon-go-fest-2021-generated-over-20-million-in-two-days

[8] https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-07-28-players-spent-usd17-5-million-during-pok-mon-go-fest-2020

[9] https://www.vg247.com/pokemon-go-gest-2021-21-million-revenue

[10] https://activeplayer.io/pokemon-go/

[11] https://www.statista.com/statistics/665640/pokemon-go-global-android-apple-users/

[12] “How Players Across Gender And Age Experience Pokémon Go?”. Universal Access In The Information Society, vol 19, no. 4, 2019, pp. 799-812. Springer Science And Business Media LLC, doi:10.1007/s10209-019-00694-7

[14] https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/1/15724196/niantic-pokemon-go-sponsorship-app

[15] https://www.thegamer.com/niantic-pokemon-go-local-business-recovery-initiative

[16] https://www.adweek.com/performance-marketing/pokemon-go-update-adds-avatar-clothing-inspired-by-pokemon-ultra-sun-and-ultra-moon

[17] https://appmagic.rocks/product-deck

[18] https://sensortower.com/blog/pokemon-go-five-billion-revenue