Pokemon Go Just Had Its Biggest Year Yet

Pokemon Go just had its biggest year of all time several years after the mobile game first released, according to new data detailing the game's financial successes from 2019. Sensor Tower reported that the game brought in an estimated $894 million in gross player spending last year which is significantly more than any year before it. It's quite the haul for a game that's free-to-play, and most of that revenue came from the United States with other regions contributing their own fair share to the total.

Sensor Tower's report about the game detailed the player spending that nearly reached $900 million for 2019. The graph below shows how 2019 compared to past years with 2016, the first year that the game was on the market, the one that comes closes to rivaling last year. Pokemon Go earned $832 million in 2016 with 2018 bringing in $816 million.

The lowest month by far was 2017, a massive dip in player spending that only amounted to $589 million. It's still an impressive amount for any game, but it's far lower than the values from the other years.

Pokémon GO from @NianticLabs had its best year yet in 2019 after generating nearly $900 million in gross player spending. #PokémonGO #Pokémon #mobilegames
Read the full story here: https://t.co/m99Iakg0aq pic.twitter.com/526mo9WiG8

— Sensor Tower (@SensorTower) January 9, 2020

A further breakdown of the data showed that 38 percent of the player spending came from the United States while Japan came in second place with 32 percent of the spending. More people spent money on Pokemon Go through Google Play than the App Store, and far more people downloaded and installed the game through that marketplace as well.

Joined by other hit mobile games like Candy Crush Saga and Honor of Kings, mobile gaming had a pretty profitable year overall in 2019. It's been reported that mobile games brought in around $61.7 billion all-together in 2019.

Mobile games generated $61.7 billion in player spending globally last year across the App Store and Google Play, up 12.8% Y/Y. Games accounted for 74% of all in-app revenue. Read more in our full analysis: https://t.co/bglDNB3QVH pic.twitter.com/B8LFwg4VX6

— Sensor Tower (@SensorTower) January 7, 2020

Pokemon Go has been consistently adding new events and variations of Pokemon throughout 2019 to help push the earnings towards the lofty number they reached. Things like a Party Hat Wurmple and a slew of events and features planned for January are just a few of the things Niantic has had in the works recently with more expected to come throughout 2020.