Pokemon Go Earned $2 billion in 2020 after Introducing Ground Breaking Changes

Published 01/08/2021, 11:46 AM EST

Follow Us

The pandemic shut the whole world down, ending all social activities suddenly. It led to many postponements of major gaming events and even complete cancelations. It forced video games industry to figure out how to make things work, while a social game like ‘Pokemon Go’ ran a risk of dying out. The concept of the player base venturing outdoors for Pokemon had now turned into a highly impractical and dangerous activity.

It forced gaming studio Niantic to make serious adjustments to its game, and they produced record-breaking results.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

2020 was the biggest year for ‘Pokemon Go’

The developers of the game ‘Niantic’ reversed the game’s concept to match the pandemic guidelines with better indoor spawns and enable complete remote access.

The game was changed from the outdoor social format to a dedicated indoor ‘digital’ app. Players could now interact with each other digitally with every major meet up event becoming virtual.

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

Gamers were now finally able to play their favourite Pokemon game from the comfort of their room. The enhanced spawn rate and the ease of finding Pokemons inside your living space was probably the most attractive addition. No wonder the game saw a record-breaking surge in terms of player base and engagement. It all ultimately led to more micro transaction that translated into increased sales.

Take a look at the chart below provided by Superdata that compared the performance of all mobile games in the pandemic year 2020.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Chart source:SuperData

Loyal fans of the game were asking for more events or such changes that would make remote play a reality. Originally, the game allowed players to compete against other trainers remotely only after achieving a designated friendship level. Now with the pandemic breaking out, wishes of the community have all been answered.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Nintendo should keep their game the way it is at the moment, because of the staggering results. It is quite evident that the fans enjoy the game the way it is now, as oppose to its older version . The studio has to come up with a good balance between outdoor and remote events, as it will only help to gain more fans and do significantly better in the future after the world overcomes this ailment.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Ayank Chourasia

2,047Articles

One take at a time

Ayank Chourasia is an eSports author at EssentiallySports and has been professionally writing since 2016 and has worked across many fields. He regularly keeps tabs on a wide range of professional esports like Dota 2, Valorant, CS and fighting games. He has been an ardent gamer since his childhood, and became a defender of the ancients in Dota 2 during his college days.
Show More>