It seems like yesterday, but Pokémon Go has been with us for four years now. Of all of them and according to Sensor Tower measurements, 2019 was the best year for Niantic, with an estimated income of $ 890 million. The surprise is that the good news continues in the first half of 2020.
According to Sensor Tower, Pokémon Go has broken its record in revenue from integrated purchases in the first half of 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced millions of people to stay in their homes for much of what we have been for the year.
A good year for Pokémon Go
Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game highly focused on exploration: it is not intended to be played from home, but you must go outside and go to specific places to catch Pokémon, fight in gyms or obtain items from Pokeparades. The logical thing would be that 2020 marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and a multitude of confinements around the globe would have reversed the positive trend in Pokémon Go income, but nothing could be further from reality.
According to Sensor Tower data, in the first half of 2020 Pokémon Go would have broken its record in revenue from integrated purchases, with 12% more than the same half of the previous year and a total figure of $ 445 million, compared to 399 million in the first half of 2019 and 336 million in that of 2018.
Sensor Tower has not shared its estimates month by month, so it is not easy to see the real impact of the coronavirus on Pokémon Go, as we remember that the confinements did not start in many regions such as Spain until late March. On balance, yes, the first half of the year is not only positive, but it has broken records.
It was precisely at the end of March when Niantic announced a series of changes to facilitate the game from home, such as reducing the distance to hatch eggs, more gifts in PokéStops, more PokéBall gifts or increasing the density of Pokémon on the map.
Counting its entire history, according to Sensor Tower, the United States has been the most lucrative country for Niantic, generating 35.4% of all player spending ($ 1.3 billion), followed by Japan and Germany.
Another interesting detail is that most of the revenue comes from Google Play (53.6%), while the revenue from the App Store would remain in the remaining 46.4%. In downloads, there is also a greater number in Google Play: 450 million (78.3%) compared to 125 million in the App Store (21.7%)