Last year, as the world faced lockdowns due to Covid-19, people sought entertainment indoors while forgoing outings with friends. To adjust to the pandemic, Niantic made a few adjustments to Pokemon Go so it could be enjoyed at home, and the game amassed over 120 million downloads because of that - making 2020 its most profitable year yet.
It's not surprising to see the game receive a surge of downloads in 2020, as apps and games saw massive spikes in popularity since people didn't have much to do outdoors considering the pandemic. However, a game released in 2016 climbing again in downloads does come as a little bit of a shocker. However, the logic makes perfect sense, as people couldn't really go out and meet their friends - so they just opted to find new friends, aka Pokemon, via the game in a secure way.
As per data released by SafeBettingSites, along with hitting 120 million downloads, Pokemon Go also had its most profitable year in 2020, with over $920 million in revenue generated. Pokemon Go's gains were made by players' use of the in-app shop, and was a whopping 41% jump from 2019. More from the data shows that Asia-Pacific was the largest spending region globally, as it accounted for around 40% of the money spent by players worldwide.
Back in 2016, when it was first released, the game was considered a hit all around the world as it hit 10 million downloads within the first week of its release date. The unique perspective given to a mobile game with real word functionality was an intriguing aspect of Pokemon Go, as it also pushed people to get out of their homes and "enjoy" venturing outside. The game was actually so hyped up, that it hit over 500 million downloads in the first quarter of its existence - a milestone we don't see being reached very often.