As one of the most popular mobile games globally, Pokémon GO witnessed the influx of new players in 2020 who spent an impressive amount of money on in-app purchases.
According to data presented by Safe Betting Sites, Niantic’s location-based megahit was downloaded 120 million times last year, while player spending surged by 40% YoY to $923 million.
The Most Profitable Year Since Launching In 2016
Released in July 2016, Pokémon GO was instantly a smash hit. Within a week of its release, the mobile app had been downloaded over ten million times worldwide, showing the enormous hype surrounding the launch of Nintendo’s first venture into mobile gaming.
The app hit a staggering 500 million downloads during its first quarter before winding down to a double-digit download volume over time. The AppMagic data showed the mobile game was downloaded more than 153 million times in 2017. In the next two years, the annual number of downloads slipped to 115 million.
However, as millions of people turned to mobile games amid the lockdown, the number of downloads jumped to 120 million in 2020, a 5 million increase in a year, with the lifetime downloads hitting over 1 billion.
Last year, Pokémon Go was also among the leading free-to-play gaming titles worldwide, with over $923 million in player spending, almost 40% more than in 2019. Statistics also show 2020 was the app’s most profitable year since launching in 2016.
Asia-Pacific Generated 40% Of In-App Purchase Revenue
Pokémon GO players are a highly engaged audience and live events, when possible, are very popular with the player community. Although the initial Pokémon craze has slowly faded, the game still enjoys millions of active users worldwide and the Asia-Pacific region, in particular.
Statistics show that in 2020, the mobile game generated more than $391 million through in-app purchases across the Asia Pacific markets, a 43% jump in a year. The Americas ranked second with $380 million in player spending, 41% more than in 2019.
Players from the EMEA region spent $151 million on in-app purchases or 33% more than before the pandemic.
During the first three months of 2021, Pokémon GO generated over $177 million in in-app purchase revenue, and Asia-Pacific accounted for 40% of that value.
