2020 has been the year of the mobile game. And one in particular has had some astounding financial success this year: Pokemon GO, even though some thought that a game that promotes going outside like Pokemon GO would do poorly in a global pandemic.
All the way back at the beginning of the year, coronavirus concerns slowly but surely began to change video gaming as the world knows it. In America, people on lockdown spent more time on their phones as a way to stay connected, spending an average of 23 minutes extra per day on their phones. Some of those extra minutes ended up as mobile game minutes, too. In places like China, where Internet cafes used to be king, people began to stay home with their phones for gaming instead or buying Switch consoles, which were once not as popular in China. This has lead 2020 to be a massive boom in business for mobile, and Pokemon GO is no exception.
So far in 2020, Pokemon GO has made almost $1.2 billion USD, an increase of approximately $378,000,000 over last year's numbers. While the Summer of Pokemon GO still holds the record for the most money made per month in GO, 2020 came closer than anyone expected to the app's original success. Pokemon GO is one of just five mobile games that hit $1 billion USD or more made in 2020.
Being locked inside during a global pandemic has certainly driven most of this unexpected jump in revenue this year; among the success of GO and other games like Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile, newcomer Genshin Impact has also reached $400 million USD since its release in September; had it been out for the whole year, it likely would have hit the $1 billion USD mark, as well.
Niantic's success seems to stem from the company's ability to embrace change. It saw the coronavirus as a hurdle and altered the way Pokemon GO works in order to suit the new environment. Between testing for socially distanced trading of Pokemon to allowing players to gather gifts from PokeStops without leaving home, Pokemon GO has kept in step with the pandemic's alterations to daily life. Niantic also canceled, then found replacements for, live events where large groups of fans would physically gather together around PokeStops and gyms to get unique Pokemon and extra gifts.
It seems that for as long as the global pandemic of the novel coronavirus continues, mobile game and overall video game spending will continue to rise, and Pokemon GO's success along with it.
Pokemon GO is available for most mobile devices.
Sources: emarketer, warc, nintendosoup