Pokémon Go Ends 74-Day Reign as Highest Grossing App in U.S. App Store

[MacRumors]

Pokémon Go has been bumped from the top of the United States iOS App Store's top grossing chart, seventy-four days after originally being titled the highest grossing app in the country. The game has been beaten by Clash Royale, which recently received an update "that sent players into a spending frenzy."

In new data collected by Sensor Tower, Pokémon Go's success was put into comparison with other apps that surged in popularity for a period of time. In terms of most consecutive days as number one on the App Store's top grossing chart, Pokémon Go's 74 day streak came out third, behind Clash of Clans (347 days) and Candy Crush Saga (109 days).

Pokémon GO managed 42 more consecutive days atop the chart than the game that unseated it, Clash Royale, and more than twice as many days as the 10th game on the chart, The Simpsons: Tapped Out, which stayed at the top for 15 days. Not all of the top 10 were games; Pandora and Spotify have both spent more than two consecutive weeks at the apex of the Top Grossing ranking, at 20 and 18 days, respectively.

Due to the staggered rollout of Pokémon Go, Niantic's game is still the top grossing app in the App Store in some countries, including Australia, Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, and Thailand. It's also still earning the top spot in revenue on the Google Play Store in the United States.

Although popularity has waned, Niantic and The Pokémon Company have kept up with consistent updates to the game, most recently introducing a "buddy" system that allows players to choose a favorite Pokémon as a buddy. The Pokémon acting as a buddy then earns candy after a certain distance is traveled, making it much easier to get candies for upgrading rare Pokémon. Players are still waiting for trading, friend battling, a new generation of Pokémon, and the now-confirmed Apple Watch app.

Article Link: Pokémon Go Ends 74-Day Reign as Highest Grossing App in U.S. App Store

 

[newdeal]

I bet they made a lot of money in that time but the problem to me is that Pokemon in my mind is a "kids game". I am 34 and it really was never popular with kids when I was growing up, and similarly, I never had any desire to play Pokemon go. I think they should do very well with Mario but I doubt it will be a top grossing app if they do away with in-app purchases. I prefer buying the game and just playing it but clearly freemium is the way to make money

 

[mejsric]

Well, people get tired of walking.

 

[StarHunter]

The game died since it turned into a massive grind after lvl 20 with very little progress being made and no real end game content.

 

[Sasparilla]

It finally falls. Very enjoyable game - play it with my 9 year old, walking, riding bikes etc., its great.

I bet they made a lot of money in that time but the problem to me is that Pokemon in my mind is a "kids game". I am 34 and it really was never popular with kids when I was growing up, and similarly, I never had any desire to play Pokemon go. I think they should do very well with Mario but I doubt it will be a top grossing app if they do away with in-app purchases. I prefer buying the game and just playing it but clearly freemium is the way to make money

Definitely looks like Freemium is the main venue for developers since regular purchases doesn't allow for paid upgrades (which you need if you're going to have ongoing updates and support, hello Apple, duh.). I never understood why Apple didn't fix that with the purchase model - its such an obvious problem / easy solution.

Pokemon Go is definitely a game basically any age can play (so kids game, yes). I didn't play it for about a month after release. I chose to play it after having a conversation with a manager about his enjoyment of Mario Cart when he was young and how he would never play Pokemon etc., sounding like an old man (i.e. get off my lawn) - so I figured it was probably good to see what the younger folks were enjoying so much & tried it. Its actually quite enjoyable and works with my walking perfectly. I'd encourage you to try it.

 

[JohnApples]

I'm sad the popularity has died. I still have fun playing it, but no one else around me does anymore, which in turn makes me want to play it less.

I'm more disappointed that Candy Crush and Clash are the top 2 still.

 

[itsmilo]

Their own fault. They didnt take advantage of the momentum at all and never communicate anything to the customer.

Such a face palm moment when i heard "Apple Watch support by the end of the year"

Only gonna get worse with the cold season coming up

 

[Loco Emperor]

Just glad it is finally dead. I think the idea of getting you out and about is admirable but I got so sick of hearing about this stupidgame.

 

[2457282]

Although I play games very little, the clash Royale game got me for 5 bucks with the last update. I can't remember the last time I paid for IAP. Kicking myself.

 

[Nevaborn]

They missed a fundamental and easy trick and is something Digimon managed in the 90's !

Have it so you travel and capture Pokémon. Battle wild Pokemon to level them and then Battle other people IRL over Bluetooth communication. It would look just like the actual games but with each other's Pokemon.

 

[RightMACatU]

Pokemon STOP. In-line with the average duration of people signing up for a gym membership

 

[Andres Cantu]

All they have to do is update it with the following-generation Pokémon and it'll go right back up.

 

[69Mustang]

Although I play games very little, the clash Royale game got me for 5 bucks with the last update. I can't remember the last time I paid for IAP. Kicking myself.

Got hit with the same 5 bucks. Worse, I constantly rail on about IAP, but realize it's the most profitable avenue for devs. I prefer buy once but it doesn't seem to be a viable long term solution for mobile games. I remember buying Monument Valley thinking, "see, if the devs build a quality game people will buy it without IAP". One DLC later and nothing.

 

[Zirel]

Pokemon STOP. In-line with the average duration of people signing up for a gym membership

Gym membership or enrolling at school.

 

[Saipher]

Do people still play that?! On another note, It's a good game but too much of a grind after you reach higher levels. Plus their whole server instability at the time was really frustrating, specially at the gyms.

 

[Old Muley]

After reading about the Pokemon "Buddy" function I decided to check it out, but I opened Clash of Clans out of force of habit...

 

[Bigsk8r]

It finally falls. Very enjoyable game - play it with my 9 year old, walking, riding bikes etc., its great.



Definitely looks like Freemium is the main venue for developers since regular purchases doesn't allow for paid upgrades (which you need if you're going to have ongoing updates and support, hello Apple, duh.). I never understood why Apple didn't fix that with the purchase model - its such an obvious problem / easy solution.

Pokemon Go is definitely a game basically any age can play (so kids game, yes). I didn't play it for about a month after release. I chose to play it after having a conversation with a manager about his enjoyment of Mario Cart when he was young and how he would never play Pokemon etc., sounding like an old man (i.e. get off my lawn) - so I figured it was probably good to see what the younger folks were enjoying so much & tried it. Its actually quite enjoyable and works with my walking perfectly. I'd encourage you to try it.

The release of Pokemon GO coincided to the day with my now 19 year old son moving in with me. Playing it together and spending time in parks walking and talking would not have happened so fast if we didn't have that initial "common ground" in the game.

We would have eventually been fine, but it's made the transition of having him here so much easier. Also, seeing young families that you can tell would be in front of a TV if they weren't out playing the game is cool too. You see people all over parks and playing at all hours of the day here.

 

[PeterL111]

I stopped because of battery drain, constantly looking at my phone, and it is mainly due to rage quit for failing to capture a common Pokémon by using several master balls.

 

[adamjackson]

When I see an app is top-grossing, I know immediately to avoid it. I have an addictive personality and have learned spending $99 on a AAA Xbox One Game and pre-buying the DLC, I can get a year of fun out of that $100.

If I play any of these games, I'm going to wake up in a year, have spent 2-3 grand and have nothing to show for it except my eye-balls have fallen out having looked at tiny screens to play these games 6 hours a day.

 

[Iconoclysm]

They missed a fundamental and easy trick and is something Digimon managed in the 90's !

Have it so you travel and capture Pokémon. Battle wild Pokemon to level them and then Battle other people IRL over Bluetooth communication. It would look just like the actual games but with each other's Pokemon.

They didn't miss it, they simply couldn't add newer features because their infrastructure was not ready for 80 million active users in the first couple of days. Those features are on the way.

 

[cableguy84]

Knew it was a fad from the start, hopefully it dies now

 

[Norbs12]

Just glad it is finally dead. I think the idea of getting you out and about is admirable but I got so sick of hearing about this stupidgame.

Yeah I used to get scolded and called everything from a hater to a loser for simply saying I'm not a fan of it and I think it's a fad. It was actually quite entertaining to see how worked up people got over a game (a boring game at that).

 

[CrAkD]

I only have 2 left to catch when they release the next batch it'll go right back to the top

 

[geekymcfly]

This is great news for me at least. I hated hearing about and worse was that apple seemed to give it credit by giving it time at the last apple event.

 

[chr1s60]

Pokémon Go was a victim of its own popularity. It blew up fast and people heard about it nonstop for a month and during that time people got sick of it. It's a representation of the younger generation. Nothing stays cool for long because everyone always wants the next big thing.