Pokemon GO estimated to surpass $1 billion in revenue before year’s end
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 1 Comment
When we last heard about Pokemon GO’s revenue milestone, the game was sitting at $250 million. App Annie now believes it “will breeze past $350 million in consumer spending across iOS and Google Play in the coming days.” App Annie VP of marketing and communications Fabien-Pierre Nicolas further adds that “the game is on pace to exceed our $1 billion prediction from early July and surpass any previous mobile game yearly revenues.” Putting that number into perspective, the app could exceed worldwide box-office numbers for Captain America: Civil War, which is 2016’s highest-grossing film thus far.
App Annie’s latest report also goes into user statistics once again. Pokemon GO is the leading game across all demographic segments of iPhone users in the United States, though it’s doing best with the 13–24 segment (top 20 for all apps). As the average player is three times as likely to use Twitch, Steam and Clash Royale, it’s a sign that core players make up a strong segment of the overall demographic.
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Some Pokemon GO players using new exploit with eggs to make gyms unbeatable
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 7 Comments
A new Pokemon GO exploit is starting to circulate, making it impossible to take over a gym.
The issue comes down entirely to eggs. Somehow, players have managed to make them gym leaders. But due to a lack of moves and HP, eggs can’t be defeated. The egg simply stays there and can’t be removed in any way.
Reports thus far have pointed to issues with gyms in New York City. You can see a couple of videos showing how the exploit is affecting players below.
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Iwata continued to work from the hospital until his passing, including Pokemon GO
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 20 Comments
Late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata passed away from bile duct cancer last July. Yet up until his death, he still continued to be deeply involved with different projects, such as Pokemon GO.
In a new article, Nikkei writes that “[Iwata] continued to work in a hospital room until the last moment, using his favorite PC and exchanging views on ‘Pokemon Go’ with Tsunekazu Ishihara, the Pokemon Company’s president and his close friend.” The site also says that Iwata was “closely involved” with Pokemon GO’s development “from the planning stage.”
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Pokemon GO revenue exceeds $250 million
Posted on 9 years ago by Zack in Mobile, News | 2 Comments
According to FT.com, Pokemon GO has not only exceeded $250 million in global revenue, but is on track to reach $1 billion in sales.
Furthermore, the site reports that one in five Pokemon GO players spends money on the app and over 11 million paying players in the US and UK alone, according to a survey of 50,000 players conducted by pollster YouGov.
YouGov’s study further elaborates on these statistics, stating that 1 million UK residents paid to play Pokemon GO in it’s first month, with the majority of those players paying between 80P and £14.99, rather than the minimum of 79P. 29% and 20% of American and German players respectively tapped into their PokeBanks to spend money on the app, with 9% of German fans – roughly equivalent to 142,000 individuals – spent over €100.
It’s estimated that 13% of the adult population in the US, UK and Germany have downloaded Pokemon GO, with 90% of that number continuing to play for four weeks after the initial download. A third of those players were over the age of 35 and high earners.
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Pokemon GO provides big boost to online retailers
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 0 comments
It’s no secret that Pokemon GO has boosted sales of the franchise in various ways. We’ve heard about the increased performance of the games, trading card game, and more in various countries, but Bloomberg now offers up some information for the United States.
Based on data from Adobe’s Digital Price Index, online Pokemon-branded merchandise sales were up 105 percent in July year-over-year. This includes toys, electronics such as video games, plus T-shirts, caps and other apparel. Retailers such as Build-A-Bear and GameStop are seeing huge benefits from the craze that has become Pokemon GO.
Other specific data is tough to come by. However, Bloomberg does have an anecdote from Ansony Morales, assistant manager at a Virginia-based Build-A-Bear, who said more customers are looking for Pokemon-related merchandise. We also heard from GameStop last month that sales rose by more than 100 percent at stores used as PokeStops.
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Pokemon GO boosts McDonald’s sales in Japan
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 0 comments
Pokemon GO launched with a McDonald’s partnership a couple of weeks ago. Over 3,000 locations became either PokeStops or Gyms. The move made sense for the fast food restaurant, as they likely knew it would boost business.
And that’s exactly what’s happened. McDonald’s sales in Japan rose 27 percent last month, with the company stating that there was demand for children’s meals featuring Pokemon toys and increased traffic thanks to Pokemon GO.
That’s definitely good news for McDonald’s, but the restaurant believes it’s too early to estimate Pokemon GO’s impact on earnings. That being said, more customers are being drawn in due to the partnership.
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Pokemon Company on the Super Bowl commercial, Detective Pikachu film, Pokemon GO, more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments
GamesBeat was recently given the opportunity to speak with The Pokemon Company consumer marketing director J.C. Smith. Smith had plenty to say about the Super Bowl commercial which aired earlier in the year, the Detective Pikachu film (we’ll hear more “soon”), Pokemon GO, and more.
Per usual, we’ve rounded up some of the important responses below. You can read the full interview on GamesBeat here.
More: interview, J.C. Smith, movie, Niantic, Pokemon, Pokemon GO, top
Latest Pokemon GO partnership turning cinema chain into PokeStops in Japan
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 3 Comments
Pokemon GO has its second notable partnership. In Japan, the TOHO cinema chain will have most of its movie theaters become PokeStops. It’ll only be outside however, as to not disturb folks watching films.
The Pokemon GO and TOHO partnership will kick off later this year.
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Niantic test shows that Pokemon GO is getting major tracking improvements
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 5 Comments
Pokemon GO received its latest update yesterday. For a select group of players fortunate enough, they now have access to some features Niantic is testing. There are big improvements across the board when it comes to tracking.
First, you’ll see that the Nearby section has changed to a greater extent than we knew of previously. Players can now see the closest PokeStop if a Pokemon is near there. Also, when touching a Pokemon and select “view”, it zooms out and takes you to an overview map – the Pokemon appears to be in the pink circle. Choosing the Pokemon to track puts a marker on the live map, and when one flees, you’ll be notified with a message.
Here’s a look at what’s to come for tracking in Pokemon GO:
As Niantic is still in the testing phase with new tracking features, things may change a bit before the system is rolled out to all players. Still, what we’ve seen so far is a noticeable improvement compared to what’s in Pokemon GO at the moment.
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A look at Pokemon GO’s new driving warning
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 5 Comments
When you’re driving, you shouldn’t be playing Pokemon GO. Niantic wants to make that clear with a new warning that can now be issued following today’s new update.
If you’re going too fast, you may see the notice appear. It’s a basic warning which asks users not to play and drive. You’ll need to tap “I’m a passenger” in order to continue playing. That seems pretty fair!