Pokémon Go raking in $10m a day, rival apps doing fine

9 Aug 2016

Despite hitting 100m downloads in the Google Play Store, and breaking all iOS app records, Pokémon Go’s immense popularity is not starving other app manufacturers of revenue.

According to the latest figures surrounding the wildly successful Pokémon Go, the Google Play Store has seen 100m downloads alone. The full figures for Apple’s Play Store are still unknown but the company did confirm it was downloaded more times in its first week than any other app in history.

Now, one month into the gradual roll-out – three major markets, India, China and Korea, have yet to see the game be officially released there – the game’s success has proved remarkably durable.

Pokémon Go

The estimated $10m the game is generating daily is unheard of in a young app, though what is perhaps more interesting is the effect, or not, it is having on rival apps.

According to data from App Annie Intelligence, Pokémon Go has not had a sustained and meaningful impact on the daily revenue of other games on iOS and Google Play.

The likes of Mobile Strike, Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga suffered very brief dips in some countries upon the release of Pokémon Go, before recovering.

This is evidence that the app ecosystem, far from being saturated, has room to absorb far more games.

The 100m downloads on the Google Play Store, meanwhile, may be significantly below the true figures. As India, China and Korea cannot yet download the game through official channels, it’s safe to assume APKs mean that the actual download figures for the game are a lot higher.

This means the app could ultimately achieve even more incredible figures, perhaps adding another zero to the end of that 100m.

Yesterday (8 August), 15 new countries – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau – received official access to the game.

Main Pokémon Go image via Eduardo Woo/Flickr

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com