Remember those few weeks last summer when the entire world became obsessed with Pokémon Go, with millions of people logging onto the augmented reality app to catch Pokémon?
The fad may have died down, but recent data from the Pokémon Company shows just how successful the game was from a financial perspective. An analysis by Tokyo-based gaming consultant Serkan Toto finds that the private company’s profit jumped to $143.3 million in the fiscal year ending Feb. 28, 2017.
That’s 26 times the amount of money it made the previous year.
Related: The Scary Way Pokemon Go Is Making Money Off You
Since the Pokémon Company is a private firm, there was little additional information, but the profit was likely driven by in-app purchases as well as additional merchandise and other sales due to increased brand awareness, according to Engadget. Overall sales revenues reportedly reached $1 billion early in 2017, making Pokémon Go the fastest mobile game to hit that level.
The Pokémon Company isn’t the only one making money off the game. Developer Niantic has said that it earns 15 cents to 50 cents per user for check-ins at sponsored locations. With more than 500 million sponsored check-ins, that could mean up to $250 million. Nintendo’s shares spiked immediately after the release of Pokémon go before leveling off, but they’re recently climbed even higher following the release of the new console Switch.
Even though the fervor for Pokémon Go, which has been downloaded more than 650 million times, has declined, it still boasts 65 million active players. It could get another boost this summer when it releases Legendary Pokémon and introduces player versus player functionality, two features highly requested by fans.
