The location-based game Pokémon Go turned into a juggernaut immediately after its launch. A decline in overall activity has been noticed in recent times, but despite that, the game is still going strong. Games Industry stated in a new report that games data analytical firm Newzoo found that daily downloads of Pokémon Go are still at 700,000.
Going strong despite massive drop in popularity
The game has reportedly been installed more than 550 million times and has brought in more than $470 million in revenue. Daily revenue from these downloads and in-app purchases is $2 million. Within three weeks of its launch, the game reached its peak according to Newzoo, with more than 27 million daily downloads and over $16 million in revenue.
“Pokémon GO has opened our eyes in many ways. It has refreshed the top grossing mobile game ranking that has been dominated by a small number of publishers and games for a long time,” said Newzoo CEO Peter Warman.
Another interesting point highlighted in the report is that Pokémon Go will change the demographics of mobile gamers over the long run. The game is highly popular among traditional gamers and in the last three months, over 80% of Smite and Dota 2 players are apparently logging into the game. Females account for 43% of total Pokemon Go players, which is 10% higher than it is for the other 100 top mobile games, said Newzoo.
The drop is certainly a large one and has led analysts to quickly point out that Pokémon Go has yet to be launched in South Korea and China — two of the biggest markets for mobile games in Asia. In the West, the game introduced more than 20 million players to the mobile gaming world.
Pokémon Go is making mobile app store operators rich
Pokémon Go, which was launched more than 80 days ago, is an augmented reality game in which players follow digital maps to explore their surroundings and catch fantasy creatures called Pokémon. After that, they power up their Pokémon to fight competitions in regional gyms and gain prestige. The game is free to play, but in order to enhance the experience and speed their advancement, players can purchase in-game items.
Pokémon Go‘s success has benefited mobile app store operators Apple and Google the most. Both receive 30% of app purchases. The game accounted for 62% of all iOS downloads and 39% of all Google Play store downloads in the U.S., U.K., France and Germany.
All of this success has some amount of controversy associated with it. A number of people have filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against the game, with many being upset about wayward Pokemasters stumbling onto their property.
