Update [Thu 4th May, 2023 15:45 BST]: After yesterday's report that Niantic's Pokémon GO monthly revenue was the lowest that the game has seen since 2018, the developer has today responded, dismissing the claims as "incorrect".
In a comment given to Eurogamer, Niantic stated that its revenue was in fact up on the same period from last year, though it did not specifically deny that April's takings were down on a month-on-month basis:
We generally don't comment on third-party estimates of our revenue as they are often incorrect, which is the case here. Our revenue so far in 2023 is up on last year.
The studio went on to dismiss the claims that a revenue drop has come as a product of the recent Raid changes, which, it stated, has instead resulted in "increased in-person raiding":
We don't focus on month to month trends because they fluctuate based on major live events. This year's changes have already increased in-person Raiding and we're excited to introduce exciting new features over the coming months.
You can find all of the details of the initial monthly earnings report below which, it should be noted, only accounts for one source of the game's income.
Original article [Wed 3rd May, 2023 15:45 BST]: Believe it or not, Pokémon GO has been around for almost seven years now, having launched back in July 2016 (almost a full year before the Switch!). It always seemed inevitable, then, that interest in the app would eventually wane.
Well, it seems that time may well be upon us, as according to MobileGame.biz (thanks, VGC), Pokémon GO's monthly earnings for April 2023 were significantly lower than that of March, which itself was a poor month compared to February. The app brought in a total of $34.7 million during April, $42.8 million in March, and $58 million in February, meaning the drop over the course of two months is a rather severe 40%.
While $34.7 million is still a significant amount of cash, April 2023 marks the lowest earning period for the game since February 2018. The reasoning behind the drop might also be due in part to the widespread negative reception to developer Niantic's decision to increase the price of Remote Raid Passes, which came into effect at the start of April 2023.
The decision caused the phrase 'Hear Us Niantic' to trend on social media as players banded together to denounce the price increase, which many deemed to harmful to trainers with disbilities. Nevertheless, Niantic doubled down on its decision, stating that it was necessary for the "long term health of the overall game".