Pokémon Go made $73 million in revenue in October, according to mobile research firm Sensor Tower — and that’s a significant boost from how Niantic’s AR mobile game performed in the same time period last year.
That is up 67 percent from the $43.6 million the location-based game made in October 2017. Pokémon Go launched in July 2016 and became a phenomenon. The free-to-play game no longer makes mainstream news headlines, but it is still making a lot of money. Pokémon Go total earnings have passed $2 billion.
Sensor Tower also notes that Pokémon Go is the No. 8 ranked app in terms of revenue when combining iOS and Android. It is No. 7 when just counting games, and it is one spot ahead of Fortnite.
Pokémon Go had a Halloween event running in October, as it has every year since release. In late September, the game introduced a new Pokémon, Meltan, which will interact with Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee, which come out for Switch on November 16. Pokémon from the series Generation 4 titles — Diamond, Platinum, and Pearl — also started hitting Go in late October. Those events could have been behind this year-over-year growth.
Pokémon Go is most popular in Japan. The country accounted for 33.2 percent of total revenue. The U.S. was right behind at 32.9 percent.
As we get into colder months for the U.S. and Japan, revenues for Pokémon Go can drop off. The game depends on players walking around the real world, and it can be challenging to encourage its users to go out in the unpleasant weather. Last year, Sensor Tower noticed a significant revenue drop off during November 2017 through January 2018.