4 years later, and ‘Pokémon Go’ players have spent nearly $4 billion on the wildly popular smartphone game
Just over four years ago, “Pokmon Go” launched for smartphones and sparked a worldwide phenomenon.
With tens of millions of players around the world, “Pokmon Go” has been a smash-hit success: Players have spent nearly $4 billion on the game across the last four years, according to Sensor Tower data .
As the years have gone on, player spending has actually increased 2019 was the game’s biggest year since launch, with nearly $1 billion spent.
In July 2016, “Pokmon Go” sparked a worldwide event: Millions of people all over the world were suddenly outside in droves, capturing Pokmon.
As the years have gone on, that all-encompassing level of interest has dissipated. But millions of people are still actively playing “Pokmon Go,” and those millions of players have continued spending money on the free-to-play smartphone game.
Perhaps more impressive: 2019 was the game’s biggest year yet with just shy of $1 billion spent.
Despite costing nothing to play, “Pokmon Go” makes money by charging players for in-game items. Those items can be earned by playing the game, but some players instead choose to purchase them with real money.
It’s those optional purchases that drove nearly $4 billion in sales across the last four years players buying Pok balls, and other consumable items.