In 2024, Pokémon GO in-app purchase revenues surpassed 544 million U.S. dollars worldwide. The AR game's most profitable year was 2020, when many gamers discovered the title during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pokémon Go: a global phenomenon Pokémon Go took the world by storm in 2016. Within a week of its release on July 19, the mobile app had been downloaded over ten million times worldwide, indicating the enormous hype surrounding the launch of Nintendo’s first venture into mobile gaming. The location-based augmented reality (AR) game involves catching, training, and battling virtual creatures (Pokémon) in real-world locations via smartphone. While the initial Pokémon craze has slowly faded, the game still enjoys millions of active users around the world and the Asia-Pacific region, in particular. Player spending increases in a quest to catch ’em all Pokémon Go ranks among the leading free-to-play (FTP) gaming titles worldwide, generating over four billion U.S. dollars in lifetime IAP revenue. While both app download and usage are free, the game uses a freemium business model that supports in-app purchases. Users can buy additional Pokéballs or other in-game items to level up and increase their chances of becoming a successful virtual Pokémon trainer. In order to maintain players’ interest and participation, developer Niantic continues to expand the game by introducing new features and characters like popular franchise antagonists Team Rocket..

In 2020, mobile gaming title Pokémon GO had its biggest year yet, with a total of 356 million U.S. dollars worth of in-app purchases (IAP) revenues by gamers in the United States. The majority of Pokémon GO revenues are generated via Google Play. However, in 2024, the iOS Store for iPhone and iPad generated more IAP revenues for the AR hit, amounting to a total of 145.2 million U.S. dollars.

In 2024, mobile gaming company Niantic generated over 672 million U.S. dollars in IAP revenues. The most popular mobile gaming titles published by Niantic include the mobile AR hit Pokémon GO and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Pokémon GO's impact on Niantic's company revenue cannot be overstated — in 2015, in-app revenues amounted to a comparatively low 840 thousand U.S. dollars.

With a global sales volume of over ***** million units, Pokémon Red/Green/Blue was the franchise’s best-selling video game worldwide as of December 2024. The first full Pokémon game release on Nintendo Switch, Pokémon Sword/Shield, came in second place with **** million units. Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, the most recent series entry for Nintendo's current Switch console, has sold approximately ***** million units worldwide. Pokémon: a global success story Pokémon is an immensely popular Japanese video gaming series published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, centering around an ever-expanding universe of fictional creatures that players can collect, train, and battle. Since launching its first generation of console games on Nintendo’s Game Boy back in 1996, Pokémon has grown to become one of the world’s most successful gaming franchises with over 480 million Pokémon games sold as of May 2023. Pokémon is also one of the most persistent brand names in the gaming industry, with its Red/Green/Blue Version placing among the five best-selling console games of all time in 2023 - 27 years after its release. Venturing into the mobile games market While Pokémon has been a household name for console gaming for several decades, the franchise ventured into the world of mobile gaming for the first time in 2016. With the launch of Pokémon GO, a location-based augmented reality (AR) mobile version of the original hit gaming series, the franchise adapted to the latest trends in the video game market that center around the growing popularity and profitability of mobile games. Pokémon GO is one of the top-grossing mobile gaming titles worldwide.

First released in November 2022 for the Nintendo Switch, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are the first installments in the ninth generation of Pokémon video games. During the launch weekend, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet sold over ten million units worldwide, including over four million copies in Japan alone. During the quarter ending March 2025, lifetime Pokémon Scarlet and Violet sales amounted to 26.79 million units, making it one of the best-selling Switch games of all time. Premium Pokémon games on Switch Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are not the only Pokémon titles for the Nintendo’s Switch – as of 2025, there were 12 Pokémon games available on the hybrid console, including new mainline games, remakes, and free-to-play titles. The biggest Pokémon games on the Nintendo Switch console are Let’s Go, Pikachu / Eevee, a remake of the original Pokémon Yellow, as well as the first new mainline release Pokémon Sword & Shield (2019), which ranks among the best-selling Switch titles of all time. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, which were released in 2021, are remakes of the popular Diamond & Pearl for Nintendo DS and also rank among the best-selling Pokémon games ever. The 2022 release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus was another successful entry in the series, which featured many changes from traditional Pokémon gameplay mechanics. Free-to-play Pokémon games on Switch Apart from the mobile AR success that is Pokémon GO, the series has generally been known for its premium titles. However, in recent years, Nintendo has experimented with free-to-play titles (F2P), some of which are also available via console. Pokémon Café ReMix (2020), a puzzle café game, and Pokémon Quest (2018) are available for free from the Nintendo eShop. Another F2P entry is Pokémon UNITE, a MOBA title also available on mobile. Pokémon UNITE saw some success in the eSports segment and is also part of the invitation-only Pokémon World Championships.

Released on January 28, 2022, Pokémon Legends: Arceus sold more than 1.4 million physical launch units in Japan and had reached 14.83 million global unit sales as of March 2023. The latest entry in the long-running Pokémon franchise outsold other recent titles in the series on their launch weekends. This fact is even more impressive because Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a single version game and other Pokémon games usually feature two versions of the same game. Gotta catch em all! The Pokémon gaming series is one of the biggest gaming franchises worldwide with over 440 million games sold as of June 2022. The core games are released in generations, each with different Pokémon, characters, and sometimes new regions. Announced in February 2022 and released in November 2022, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were the first games of the upcoming ninth Pokémon generation. The original first-generation games, Pokémon Red, Pokémon Blue, and Pokémon Green were released for the Gameboy in 1998 and still hold the top spot as the best-selling Pokémon games of all time. However, the 2019 release of gen 8 games Pokémon Sword and Shield for Nintendo Switch has turned out to be the most popular of the most recent releases in the series. The Sword/Shield game duo is currently ranked second with over 24.27 million game units sold. Pokémon GO – a mobile success story Virtual Pokémon battles in real-world locations via smartphone? Almost too good to be true and yet Pokémon GO delivered on the highly anticipated concept when it was released in 2016. The augmented reality (AR) game was an instant hit on mobile and still generated over 645 million U.S. dollars in annual in-app purchase revenues in 2022. The game is credited with bringing AR gaming into the mainstream and promoting simple physical exercise but has also been criticized for contributing to accidents as users have not been paying attention to their surroundings while playing.

Since its launch on March 3, 2017, the Nintendo Switch has sold over *** million consoles worldwide as of March 2025. Following the poor sales of its predecessor, the Wii U, the Switch was seen as the new hope for Nintendo in the ongoing battle with other console giants, Xbox and PlayStation. The Switch sets itself apart from its competitors by the fact that it can be used as both a stationary console and a portable device, meaning that gamers can play from the comfort of their own homes or on the go. Nintendo cashes in on exclusive titlesOne of the key reasons for the Switch’s success is undoubtedly the popularity of Nintendo’s first-party titles. Blockbuster series such as The Legend of Zelda, Mario, and Pokémon are all exclusive to Nintendo, meaning that fans can only play their favorite games on Nintendo consoles. Unsurprisingly, these Nintendo exclusive games dominate the list of top selling Switch titles worldwide, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sitting top of the pile. Can Nintendo keep up with Microsoft and Sony?Thanks to the success of the Switch, Nintendo has once again been able to stake its claim as one of the big players in the console gaming market. Until 2022, Sony could still claim to be king of the consoles, with unit sales of its PlayStation 4 exceeding the *** million mark in 2019. As of 2023, Nintendo surpassed Sony, having sold over *** million units of the Switch. Microsoft’s contribution, the Xbox One, is lagging some way behind as sales of the consoles are still below ** million units worldwide.

Published in August 2023, Monster Hunter Now is a location-based AR game developed by Pokémon Go maker Niantic and Capcom. In December 2024, the mobile gaming app generated approximately 4.85 million U.S. dollars in in-app purchases.

In the most recently reported fiscal year, Google's revenue amounted to 348.16 billion U.S. dollars. Google's revenue is largely made up by advertising revenue, which amounted to 264.59 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. As of October 2024, parent company Alphabet ranked first among worldwide internet companies, with a market capitalization of 2,02 billion U.S. dollars. Google’s revenue Founded in 1998, Google is a multinational internet service corporation headquartered in California, United States. Initially conceptualized as a web search engine based on a PageRank algorithm, Google now offers a multitude of desktop, mobile and online products. Google Search remains the company’s core web-based product along with advertising services, communication and publishing tools, development and statistical tools as well as map-related products. Google is also the producer of the mobile operating system Android, Chrome OS, Google TV as well as desktop and mobile applications such as the internet browser Google Chrome or mobile web applications based on pre-existing Google products. Recently, Google has also been developing selected pieces of hardware which ranges from the Nexus series of mobile devices to smart home devices and driverless cars. Due to its immense scale, Google also offers a crisis response service covering disasters, turmoil and emergencies, as well as an open source missing person finder in times of disaster. Despite the vast scope of Google products, the company still collects the majority of its revenue through online advertising on Google Site and Google network websites. Other revenues are generated via product licensing and most recently, digital content and mobile apps via the Google Play Store, a distribution platform for digital content. As of September 2020, some of the highest-grossing Android apps worldwide included mobile games such as Candy Crush Saga, Pokemon Go, and Coin Master.