For mobile gamers, the story is
already well-worn in the telling. In 2014 The Pokémon Company announced that it
was developing a mobile game app based on their iconic “Pokémon”
franchise with augmented-reality game developer Niantic. Said game, called “Pokémon
Go,” was released in July of 2016 and became a momentary pop culture
juggernaut. By 2017 however the hype has died down and “Pokémon
Go” no longer made front-page news. But to say that the mobile game, which
simulated hunting for Pokémon using GPS map data on a virtual environment, was on
the way out would be to speak prematurely.
In fact, as The Verge reports Niantic’s “Pokémon Go” game app has not only
rebounded from its second-year slump but has actually already surpassed its
earnings from its famous 2016 debut year. Sensor Tower, a mobile analytics
firm, notes that in the previous year of 2019 the Niantic app has gone on to
earn over $900 million worth of revenue worldwide from its in-game purchases.
Even better, this recovery was on an upward trend from its earnings in 2018,
which was the year it bounced back from the abysmal losses in spending and
regular player-base from 2017, following its premiere.
Mobile games have a tendency to
become overnight sensations with players downloading the app en masse on their
mobile devices for the first few weeks, months, or year. But eventually the
user-base gets bored and moves on to the next new thing, causing the game app
to wither from little commerce until it gets shut down. The Pokémon
Company and Niantic’s “Pokémon Go” seemed to follow this “early-rise, quick-decline”
trend, making $832 million during its first year of success which them tumbled
into only $582 million in the following year.
Of course some of the customer
die-out for “Pokémon Go” on its second year was probably due to Niantic not
yet fully implementing all the features that were boasted on the game app’s
initial teaser. But better late than never, as some might say; by 2018 there
were plenty enough new features, game modes and other stuff to do in “Pokémon
Go” that player numbers old and new began to recover along with its profit
($816 million on year 3). While the days of crowds congregating in odd places
around towns and cities are a thing of the past where “Pokémon
Go” is concerned, these figures are proof that this game is no flash in the
pan, but a potential long-running money-making spinoff of the Nintendo-based
game and media franchise.
Aside from “Pokémon,”
Niantic has also lent its AR-mobile game development muscles to Warner Bros.
and its “Harry Potter” franchise, with the Wizarding World-themed game “Wizards
Unite” releasing last 2019.
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