Pokémon’s new mobile game is an early hit as players splurge on add-ons
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Searching for a digital Charizard.... The Pokémon Co. turned its popular online trading-card game into a mobile app. Just days after it launched, “Pokémon TCG Pocket” was downloaded 10M+ times. The game, which lets players collect and battle digital Pokémon cards, is raking in an estimated $3M/day from add-on purchases (that’s more than “Pokémon Go”). If it can keep it up, it would make $1B+ this year.
Evolve: Players get to open two card packs a day for free, and can pay to open more. They can also buy items like digital binder covers or sign up for a $10/month subscription with perks.
Zzz: The Pokémon Co. has been looking to repeat the success of 2016’s “Pokémon Go.” “Pokémon TCG Pocket” has already racked up half the downloads that “Pokémon Sleep” got in its first year.
Not so free to play… Mobile games make up half of global gaming revenue, and are expected to bring in an estimated $93B this year — $41B more than console games. But free-game makers have faced lawsuits over how they get users to spend. Critics say “gacha”-style randomized goodies like loot boxes make mobile gameplay addictive. And a recent EU consumer complaint against top developers like Supercell (“Clash of Clans”) said that games’ use of their own currencies (picture: Poké Gold) misleads consumers, especially kids, into overspending real money.
Epic Games paid out a $245M FTC settlement this year after the agency said its “Fortnite” game used design tricks (like making it easy to click the wrong button) to get players to spend more.
It’s tricky to catch ’em all… Free-to-download mobile games depend on players purchasing items like hot-dog outfits and Pokéballs to make $$. But aggressive monetization tactics could risk users hitting “flee,” and to capture customers for the long game, publishers might need to strike a balance.