Niantic's Pokémon GO Catches A Cool $84.8 Million In The Month Of September

Who are these people that spend this much money?? I've still yet to spend a dime and tbh there's nothing to buy worth the money.

@Spoony_Tech I saw a family one time at a raid and the son asked the mom to "add another 99 dollars to his account so he can get more pokecoins" and the mother said "sure thing" as if the entire family just spend their money on nothing else but Pokemon Go (at least one of them traded me a Heracross).

Also, gen 4 is revving up soon, and whenever a new gen revs up, dat is when players come back to catch them all.

@SheldonRandoms Really? That's absolutely bonkers.

No wonder the game is raking in the money.

@Deadlyblack Yeah, and it wasn't just one raid, it was for the multiple Articuno raids they just so happen to have during a double xp period. When they sent gifts, was from across different states, they don't even live in the same state as I do.

I'm curious what the other three apps that beat PG were

The thumbnail is quite fitting XD

Good job on the game, though. Glad it's bringing more value to the franchise.

"I'll sell the formula and make myself zillions of bucks. That's enough money to buy my own country, or my own planet even." -James Team Rocket

@Spoony_Tech I imagine they spend money on Pokeballs to catch Pokemon?

You probably know I'm too cheap to spend money on anything, and I wont' start now, but I did re-download Go about a week or so ago, so I could be included in here but I think it was early October, but I forgot how to get Pokeballs. I used up the 11 I had on 2 Pokemon and that was that. Eventually I remembered the Pokestops but I've only been to 2 since then, 5 at 1, only 1 at the other, so I'll assume that's what people spend money on.

Of course only being level 8 I have no idea what higher ranking people spend money on, but you can't do much w/o Pokeballs to catch the Pokemon.

@rjejr I would actually disagree, most people I have talked to mention buying multipes of the Event Gift Boxes that Niantic does every once and a while (although there are almost constantly events now so there is almost always something in the shop). They generally give a variety of things like 10 Super Incubators and 10 Premium Raid Passes with some smaller things like incense added in there too.

I can totally understand rural players or ones with a lack of stops buying pokeballs, but the vast majority of players are most likely buying these gift boxes Niantic does and storage upgrades to their Pokemon Box and Item Bag.

@Spoony_Tech As someone who ocassionally joins a massive, active ‘raid’ group to play the game, I can tell you.

Alot of the ‘casual die hards’ for PoGO spend money on items depending on the situation. Often, it’s for PokeCoins if, due to work commitments, they’ve not had time to go out, claim a gym and hold it long enough. This is because the coins are used to purchase a variety of ‘useful’ items:

• Bag upgrades (hold more items)
• Storage upgrades (hold more pokemon)
• Raid Passess (mainly during events)
• Egg Incubators (halve the egg incubation time)

Of the above, PoGO events due have an influence on the purchases such as Bag and Storage upgrades basically being essential to catch them all, which if you’re not prepared in time during the events, buying coins can be a quick way to prepare yourself on the day.

Another example is that during ‘raid’ events, alot of people will buy raid passes during the hour to get as many raid pokemon as possible to increase the chances of a shiny as often, raid pokemon will not show up for months/years again. This was the case when I joined a group who were hunting Moltres and whilst I didn’t spend money on the game, a large portion of the 20+ players did.

The same can be said for event pokemon, where shiny chances increase. Depending on the location, there may not be poke stops nearby so some may just take the quick route and purchase additional poke coins. This has been the case for my friend who lives in a village half an hour away.

I think it depends really on a variety of factors but whilst I will not spend money on mobile games, I can’t blame people who do, especially if it means they can continue to enjoy the game, as the group I ocassionally join do.

I bought extra Incubators to ensure I got regional exclusives (which I did, 2 Kangaskhan)

The "nobody plays Pokemon Go anymore" narrative continues to crumble...

The owners of Niantic will probably become billionaires by 2020. It’s strange that Shigeru Miyamoto is not yet a billionaire considering the games he created made a gigantic fortune.

@SheldonRandoms Sounds like wealthy family alright. I imagine some people just have money. Like on a whole different level from us normal folk.

September was crazy for events so this doesn't surprise me.

It had Moltres Day (to sell Raid Passes). It had Mewtwo start (to sell Raid Passes). . It had Regional Eggs (to sell Incubators) and the usual Community Day.

It's no wonder Niantic are running 2 events at once now.

That said, let's not forget that so many companies have their hands in the pot. Google/Apple take 30% as is, then The Pokémon Company and Nintendo take a lot too

I stay away from gapcha games, but I have no problem with the current level of Pokémon Go monitization. I primarily spend money to get egg incubators. It usually costs me around 10.5 USD for essentially 30 Pokémon hatches (supplemented with the coins I pick up in gyms). At .35 USD a pop, it doesn’t seem that onerous given my play time investment. I grew up shoving .25 USD into arcade cabinets for a few minutes of gameplay. The holy grail to me as a kid would be getting a roll of quarters for a present (10 USD). I have also increased my bag size and bought some clothing.

Of course. I spend money on Pokémon Go most months. I already went outside and played for about 40 minutes today. Got all the dailies done, some Pokémon catching and gym control too. I’m waiting for generation IV.

@Don Probably because he works for a company instead of running one. From what I heard, his salary and bonuses are pretty modest considering his significance.

@Deku-Scrub "Event Gift Boxes"

Never heard of them. And that's nto be being a jerk, I just started playing again a week ago, after playing for a week when ti released, and I've never heard of Event Gift Boxes. So thanks, I'll keep an eye out.