Pokémon GO has now breached the $1 billion mark according to a recent report released by an app analytics firm. What is even more incredible is that the figure has been achieved in the span of six months alone.
Fastest-Selling Game
This means that Pokémon GO has been the fastest game to have reached such milestone in history, beating the performance of billion-dollar titles such as Candy Crush Saga and Puzzles & Dragons.
According to Sensor Tower, the figure is even made more astounding by the fact that Pokémon GO is not yet available in China, the country hosting the largest number of smartphone users in the planet.
The billion-dollar revenue has not been officially confirmed, and we cannot expect Niantic Labs to release its sales figure anytime soon. However, the Sensor Tower report is aligned with previous revenue estimates.
For example, toward the end of 2016, App Annie claimed that Pokémon GO was already worth $950 million. This bit of intel, however, means that the popular game only managed to snag around $50 million for the entire month of January.
Pokémon GO App Store Ranking
Again, this information corroborates recent developments. Particularly, there is the flagging user engagement as evidenced in the way Pokémon GO has been slipping in the app rankings of late.
The prospect of a Chinese expansion has also probably been ruled out especially after Chinese regulators have invoked safety concerns. The country's State Administration of Press, Publications, Radio, Film and Television has indicated that it will likely ban the game, so Niantic Labs cannot look at that front to make up for potential loss in the game's user base.
Still, the sales figure is quite impressive, and the game itself proved quite capable of maintaining user interest. When Niantic Labs, for instance, rolled out the Halloween update in October last year, Pokémon GO zoomed back to the top spot of the App Store, ranking after settling in the bottom rung of its top 10.
Room For More
One should consider the fact that Niantic Labs still has several aces up its sleeve. Just imagine if the next generation of Pokémon GO monsters start making their debuts. Some sources also believe Niantic is not yet fully monetizing the game.
According to Forbes, the game is not offering any aesthetic upgrades, and the ability to buy premium Poké Balls is not yet on offer. These features could have added millions of dollars more.
For context, one could only turn to the way Nintendo easily managed to persuade 5 percent of the 78 million users to pay for the unlocked version of the Super Mario Run.
