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Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket officially surpassed 10 million downloads within its first three days of global launch.
AppMagic data estimates, meanwhile, show players have already spent $23.2 million in gross revenue ($16.2m net) during the five days since the title’s launch.
The Pokémon Company’s monetisation model for Pocket is built largely around pack openings, with players able to open two free digital packs of Pokémon cards per day or buy their way to more.
Gotta pull ’em all
Pokémon TCG Pocket released globally on October 30th, five weeks after starting its soft launch in New Zealand. The card game reached the 10 million downloads milestone by midnight on November 2nd, as confirmed by the official Pokémon TCG Pocket Twitter account:
“Wow. Completely awestruck here. Thank you to everyone who helped #PokemonTCGPocket reach over 10 million downloads!” read the post.
“We’re incredibly grateful and hope everyone continues to enjoy the game. There are more great things to come!”
Since its global launch, the title has yet to fall below $2 million in daily revenue and has made an average of $4.6 million per day, peaking on November 2nd at $5.6 million.
According to AppMagic, 45% of spending thus far has come from players in Japan, while 26.4% has come from US players. Taiwan marks Pocket’s third biggest audience so far with 4.5% of global spending.
Monetisation model
As for what players are spending on, Pocket’s primary revenue avenue relates to card packs themselves. Players are able to open one free pack every 12 hours, but they can pull cards more regularly by using Pack Hourglasses – in-game items that each accelerate the cooldown by one hour.
These can be obtained by completing specific missions or by purchase in the in-game shop.
A Premium Pass subscription unlocks Premium Missions which add more ways to earn these Pack Hourglasses – meaning more potential pack openings and extra rolls at the rarest cards – while also rewarding another currency, Premium Tickets.
These are used to buy exclusive and limited-time accessories like card binders, meaning that while the majority of cards can be obtained for free via lootbox-style pack openings, certain items are paid-only.
Alternatively, another currency, Poké Gold, can be bought outright to unlock immediate access to packs rather than waiting out the 12 hours.
Players can also use Wonder Hourglasses to pull a random card that a friend recently pulled. Similar to Pack Hourglasses, these can be obtained over time or by completing missions.
As of launch the majority of these cards feature monsters from the original 151, targetting that same 1990s nostalgia spot that Pokémon Go did back in 2016.
