When Pokemon Go launched back in July 2016, it all went crazy as just about every smartphone owner wanted to be part of the whole thing. But today, this is no longer the case.
In fact, Pokemon Go is no longer the massive mobile gaming that it was about 7 months ago. Nonetheless, the augmented reality (AR) based gaming application that was developed by two major names in the gaming industry – Niantic Labs and Nintendo – still was the fastest to accumulate a revenue of $1 billion when compared to any other Android or iOS mobile gaming app.
This report comes from a research firm known as Sensor Tower and apparently, Pokemon Go managed to rack such a huge revenue well ahead of Clash Royale that is developed by Supercell. The latter was released in March 2016 and during its first seven months in the market, it managed to bring in a total of $550 million. Both games are freemium – free to play, but revenue comes from in-app purchases that are meant to make the games livelier.
Following its release last summer, Pokemon Go managed to bring in a revenue of up to $18 million per day, but this has slowly faded away since then. According to Sensor Tower, the AR gaming application now manages a revenue of between $1.5 million and $2.5 million per day.
Not so long ago, Pokemon Go was launched in Korea and even though coming 7 months later, the app managed to attract up to 7 million users in its first week. At launch, the developer promised to bring in more updates and features that are aimed to keep the game attractive and relevant in the highly competitive market. And according to the research firm, this is just what the Niantic needs to be doing in order to keep the money flowing.
This is the year that will prove whether or not Pokemon Go was just a passing fad.