‘Pokémon GO’ Breaks App Store Records, Becomes Most Downloaded App In A Week Ever
Pokémon GO’s popularity is undisputed right now, and to add to that, a new report by TechCrunch states the game broke Apple’s App Store record for being the most downloaded app in a week ever in the service’s history. Essentially, in Pokémon GO‘s first seven days of existence on the App Store, the game was downloaded more times than any other app since 2008 — the year in which the App Store was first introduced to the iPhone via an iTunes update.
Unfortunately, while Apple did reveal that Pokémon GO was the most downloaded app of the week starting June 5 — the day the AR-based game was launched — it didn’t give TechCrunch any official download figures. However, another report by Sensor Tower blog actually reveals the download numbers. The report states that Pokémon GO “has been downloaded more than 30 million times worldwide on iOS and Android (till date).” It also goes on to confirm that the game has netted its makers $35 million in net revenue. Polygon, a popular gaming website, reports that “estimates put the game’s revenue at anywhere from $1 million to $2.3 million a day.”
Sensor Tower, using its expertise in mobile app store insights, asserts that Pokémon GO is the fastest mobile game to reach 10 million downloads worldwide on both iOS and Android, of which 7.2 million downloads were through the App Store. The game achieved the target in just seven days. During their first week on the App Store, other popular games like Angry Birds 2 and Candy Crush Jelly Saga brought in 2.2 million and 1.8 million downloads, respectively.
What’s impressive is that Niantic’s Pokémon GO managed to achieve this feat despite the fact that the game was launched only in New Zealand, Australia, and the U.S. in the first week. It was subsequently launched in countries in Europe, and in Japan. Therefore, fans can expect Pokémon GO to shatter the record for the most downloaded app in a month when it is launched in other regions.
Talking to Inverse, App Annie managing director of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa Nicolas Beraudo said, “I can easily envision a run-rate of over $1 billion per year with less server issues, a worldwide presence, and more social and [player vs. player] features.” Additionally, Inverse also reports that players won’t have to wait long for the social feature to come to Pokémon GO. In fact, it could be revealed in the next update itself.
On the contrary, a survey by SurveyMonkey — arguably the world’s most popular survey website — highlights that Pokémon GO has peaked in the U.S., and its popularity might actually be dwindling. The report states, “In terms of daily active users, the largest day for Pokémon GO in the U.S. was July 14th, exactly one week after the game’s debut. We estimate that just over 25 million smartphone users played the game on that day, though usage levels were fairly steady at just over 25 million users few a few days around that time before declining.”
However, this does not really prove that the game will stop generating interest entirely. The survey just states that the Pokémon GO phenomenon could have reached its saturation point and that its popularity cannot climb any higher. Some observers still think that officially launching Pokémon GO in more countries in the future might actually prove the survey wrong as the interest in the game can peak once again.
In other recent news that further augments the popularity of Pokémon GO, someone spotted Justin Bieber actually playing it in Central Park amid hundreds of other players. Billboard reports, “Bieber was in town prepping for his Madison Square Garden stop as part of his Purpose tour on Monday. The pop artist took to the streets with friend Alfredo Flores just after midnight in search of Gyrados.” Flores also posted a tweet with the singing sensation that read, “Central Park catching them all!”
Central Park catching them all ?! pic.twitter.com/V6Y7CrrBOS
— Alfredo Flores (@AlfredoFlores) July 18, 2016
[Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images]
