Pokémon GO is a cash cow, pulls in $14 million in a week

Pokémon GO is a free game on Android and iOS, but Super Data is estimating that the game has pulled in more than $14 million through in-app purchases since its debut last week. To put that into perspective, that’s roughly $2.3 million per day. What makes that number even more impressive is that the game isn’t officially available in many countries across the globe. Due to Pokémon GO’s unexpected success, Niantic Labs has slowed down the game’s global release after the massive influx of millions of users within the first few days made it impossible for many players to sign into the game. 

Since Google and Apple get a 30% cut for in-app purchases, that leaves a bucket of $9.8 million on the table. We’ll likely never know how much of a cut Niantic Labs is getting, but we’re sure that The Pokémon Company (of which Nintendo owns 32%) will be keeping most of that cash for itself. 

If Pokémon GO’s success were to level out where things currently sit, the game may easily pull in $840 million by this time next year. Not bad, considering that Pokémon GO is simply a tweaked version of Ingress with a fresh coat of paint. Never underestimate the power of a cute little Pokémon.