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

Wednesday September 21, 2016 5:50 AM PDT by Mitchel Broussard
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).

sensor-tower-pokemon
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.

Tags: App Store, Pokémon GO
34 comments


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Loco Emperor
29 months ago
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.
Rating: 7 Votes
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itsmilo
29 months ago
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
Rating: 5 Votes
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RightMACatU
29 months ago
Pokemon STOP. In-line with the average duration of people signing up for a gym membership :p
Rating: 4 Votes
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StarHunter
29 months ago
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.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Sasparilla
29 months ago
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.
Rating: 3 Votes
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mejsric
29 months ago
Well, people get tired of walking.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Bigsk8r
29 months ago

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.
Rating: 3 Votes
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2457282
29 months ago
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.
Rating: 2 Votes
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PeterL111
29 months ago
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.
Rating: 2 Votes
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geekymcfly
29 months ago
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.
Rating: 2 Votes
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