Tristan plays the Pokemon Go game on his phone in front of Flinders Street Station on July 13, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo : Getty Images/Robert Cianflone)
Soon after The Pokémon Company and Niantic collaboration released the augmented-reality game "Pokémon Go" it turned out to be the top-grossing app on both Android and iOS platforms. Like many other mobile games, "Pokémon Go" is free to play, but it offers in-app purchases, which are already earning huge money.
Early estimates point that "Pokémon Go" has managed to generate $14.04 million across mobile platforms since its release, analysis firm Superdata reported. This has, in fact, put the mobile game ahead of other titles in the franchise, including Pokémon Shuffle Mobile, which has earned about $14.03 million since its release in August 2015.
The money raked in by "Pokémon Go" is split among a number of parties, including Niantic and Apple or Google, each of which takes a 30 percent cut on all in-app purchases as owners of their respective app stores. According to David Gibson at Macquarie Research, out of every 100 units earned at the app store, 30 would go to Apple, 30 to Niantic, 30 to Pokemon and 10 to Nintendo, Business Insider reports.
Therefore, it is very likely that depending on the number of people playing "Pokémon Go" on iPhones Apple may make more money from the current craze compared to what Nintendo will earn. This is despite the fact that Nintendo has a sizeable state in the Pokemon Company.
Early estimates show that most "Pokémon Go" players are Android users. However, this mobile game is free and it is already established that compared to Android users, people owing iPhones are far more willing to spend on in-app purchases, the media outlet stated. Moreover, an addictive game like "Pokémon Go" may be helpful in driving iPhone sales.
Besides Apple, Google too is poised to make heavy profits from its Play Store app store platform. In addition, the Mount View tech giant will also be earning handsomely from its stake in Niantic, the publisher of "Pokémon Go." Prior to emerging as an independent company, Niantic was part of Google, and recently Google made heavy investments in the gaming company.
"Pokémon Go" such a craze that people are often seen playing the game in public. Watch below:
