Although Pokémon GO’s popularity appears to be waning, July’s launch of the mobile app was the most successful in the history of the platform, says an article from SuperData Research.
According to the article, Niantic’s app helped drive global digital game sales up 10 percent from July 2015 and “shot to first place in both Grossing and Download rankings for every country it launched in.”
Pokémon GO’s success is also attributed to digital game sales earning $5.9 billion in the month of July, as well as helping to grow the mobile games market by 16 percent.
In addition to topping charts in both the App Store and Google Play Store, the app helped to nearly double sales of Pokémon X, Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
Nintendo 3DS sales also rose by over 50 percent from a year ago — “an astonishing feat for underpowered hardware nearing the end of its lifespan.”
SuperData Research notes Pokémon GO’s triumph serves as a “direct refutation” to those who criticized Nintendo’s approach toward mobile gaming — creating apps that work to shepherd gamers to its home console and handheld offerings.
Nintendo’s next stop in its mobile game strategy sees a continuation of its partnership with Miitomo co-developer DeNA, which will be responsible for helping with mobile versions of Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem.
SuperData Research says it is “optimistic that [these mobile spin-offs] will have a positive impact on Nintendo’s ecosystem.”
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Written by Daniel Dell-Cornejo
Daniel is an editor at Nintendo Wire. Always with his head in the clouds, he is never apart from his creative thoughts – a blessing for an aspiring fiction writer. As a journalist and lifelong gamer, he aims to provide readers with the very best in Nintendo coverage.
