Pokémon Go had its best year ever in 2019, according to new data from Sensor Tower. The AR mobile title generated around $894 million in gross player spending in 2019 alone. Previously, Pokémon Go’s best year was 2016, when it grossed $832 million in just half a year, after releasing that July and attracting millions of players.
2017 was the game’s worst year, grossing only $589 million, but the game bounced back in 2018 with $816 million generated that year. 2019 saw a 10% increase from 2018. The top three best months for the game were July, August, and September 2016, during the height of the game’s hype. 2019 saw the next best months with the start of the Team GO Rocket event during the summer, making September and August 2019 the fourth and fifth best months overall after generating $126 million and $116 million respectively. August was the game’s highest earning month in three years.
Most of Pokémon Go’s revenue last year came from U.S. players, who made up $335 million, or 38%, of the $894 million. Japan came second, with $286 million, which made up 38%. Next was Germany with $52 million, or 6%. Google Play users made up the majority of the revenue, spending $482 million, which made up 54% of the total. The App Store constituted $412 million, which was 46% of the total.
Pokémon Go saw 55 million downloads in 2019, with 19% of them—10 million—being in the U.S. Brazil made up 10% of the installs with 5 million, and India came next with 6%, or 3 million downloads. Like revenue, Google Play accounted for the majority of downloads, making up 69% of them with 38 million installs. The App Store saw 17 million downloads.
Last year’s earnings for Pokémon Go made the game one of the top five mobile game in terms of revenue worldwide, placing behind Candy Crush Saga. The top earning mobile game of the year was Tencent’s Honor of Kings, which made close to $1.5 billion last year. Pokémon Go remains the top location-based mobile game, with no other games in its category coming near it in terms of revenue.
2020 is a new year for Pokémon Go, and the mobile title rang in the New Year with new in-game events, including new Field Research tasks, Pokémon with party hats, and new Legendary raids.