Niantic refutes claims of dwindling revenue, reaffirms Pokemon Go’s robust performance

Niantic Labs has denied a report that Pokemon Go income is all the way down to its lowest since 2018.

Yesterday, MobileGamer.biz reported March income for Pokemon Go was all the way down to $42.8 million, in comparison with $58 million in February. It additionally reported that April income dropped even additional to $34.7 million.

That determine would make Niantic’s whole month-to-month whole the bottom it has been since February 2018, in response to the information gleaned from AppMagic.

Niantic has denied the report, referred to as it “inaccurate,” and acknowledged income for the sport is up over final yr.

“We usually do not touch upon third-party estimates of our income as they’re typically incorrect, which is the case right here,” a Niantic spokesperson instructed Eurogamer. “Our income up to now in 2023 is up on final yr.”

The spokesperson went on to say the corporate doesn’t “concentrate on month to month developments” as a result of developments fluctuate “primarily based on main dwell occasions,” equivalent to Pokemon Go Fest and smaller experiences.

Regardless of the feedback, Niantic did not refute April income was down month-on-month, which it says is enterprise as typical. Then once more, Niantic is not one to share any income experiences. It’s a non-public firm, which suggests it doesn’t commerce on markets equivalent to NASDAQ. This implies we are going to by no means see numbers on how a lot the corporate makes per yr except it decides to share such information with the general public.

The Pokemon Go group has not too long ago expressed displeasure at Niantic over current adjustments. These embody a restrict to the variety of Distant Raids gamers can enter in a day, and it elevated value of Distant Raid Passes by 100%.

Regardless of group outcry, which Niantic turns a blind eye to 80-90% of the time, it claims it has seen a “profitable enhance” to in-person raiding for the reason that change was applied. However once more, it’s important to go by what the supply states, as it isn’t beholden to stockholders.

Niantic claims that regardless of the lower in Distant Raid Move gross sales, the fairly ridiculous enhance in pricing will “counteract this,” confirming what the group at massive assumed from the onset: to make up for fewer gross sales, inflating the value will make up for it.

One other current annoyance for gamers is the addition of two Pokemon debuting in Could: Pokemon Black and White’s Larvesta and its developed type, Volcarona. The one strategy to encounter the dual-type Bug/Hearth shall be by hatching 2km, 5km, and 10km Eggs – if you’re fortunate within the hatching division. All I appear to hatch of late is Pawniard and Vullaby. Of us aren’t too glad both with the quantity of sweet wanted to evolve Larvesta into Volcarona. You have to 400 candies to evolve the factor, so you’ll want to make it your buddy and presumably change some uncommon sweet for Larvesta sweet.

The Pokemon will debut throughout the An On a regular basis Hero questline, which sadly won’t characteristic a hatching distance bonus: simply 2X XP and Stardust for hatching. Moreover, gamers are tasked with hatching eggs for the An Instinctive Hero quest. Niantic could possible see an uptick in gross sales of incubators due to the search, as they’re costly and by no means appear to be handed out as rewards.

Lastly, there’s the questline Masterwork Analysis: Want Granted. The third a part of the search duties you with catching 10 Kecleon. This “invisible” chameleon Pokemon hangs out at PokeStops, and the one strategy to catch it’s to spin the PokeStop it is clinging to and hope you nab it in time when it jumps off. Whereas it’s thought-about a uncommon Pokemon, in my small city, you would at the very least discover one per day. Now, it has been a pair weeks since any of us within the native Pokemon group has seen one in a tri-city space.

Look, I take pleasure in enjoying Pokemon Go. I additionally take pleasure in difficult duties, however not near-impossible ones, and a few of the adjustments Niantic has product of late are actual headscratchers. Plus, the grind can get a bit previous (I am taking a look at you, Vivillon). A fantastic or uncommon reward may treatment such quest fatigue, as would a 100% probability of the Pokemon collected after finishing a mainline quest was a assured three-star as an alternative of a nugatory two-star. Properly, nugatory to combat, however not if you’re making an attempt to fill your Pokedex. In that case, avoid wasting house in your Pokemon stock and set the little beast free.

Hopefully, Niantic will begin listening to its group extra typically as an alternative of placing its hand over its ears. In any other case, it may see income dips contemplating many gamers have began boycotting raids and a few have even stopped enjoying the sport. However, like its financials, we could by no means know precise participant figures as a result of Niantic doesn’t disclose participant knowledge. Because of this, as soon as once more, one has to depend on third-party knowledge.

Talking of which, in response to Pokebattler, a raid get together app created by Pokebattler.com to assist set up and promote Pokemon Go raids, it has seen a significant decline in raids. Whereas the positioning admits the numbers are “closely biased” as they solely pertain to the app and web site, it denotes a attainable pattern in much less raiding for the reason that Distant Raid Move nerf.

For the reason that April 6 nerf, Pokebattler reported app occasions have been down 75% April 5 in comparison with April 28, and web site occasions declined 20%. For the reported interval, app customers declined 50% and web site guests declined 26%.

This makes us surprise how different distant raid apps are doing in gentle of the change. There’s PokeRaid, PokeGenie, and Go Raid Celebration, for instance. These apps are unbelievable as they permit rural gamers and people who battle to search out of us to affix a raid the chance to take part.

Once more, hopefully Ninatic will begin listening to the group and be extra clear, as a result of on the finish of the day, its the group that makes a sport a hit or failure.