Pokémon GO Has Grossed More than $440 Million, Out-Earning Some of 2016's Biggest Films

In less than two months after its July 6 launch in the United States, Pokémon GO has brought in more than $440 million in gross worldwide revenue on the App Store and Google Play. This puts publisher Niantic's net revenue from the app at more than $308 million so far—a figure that has grown by more than $100 million since we last looked at the game's earnings back on August 5.

In this post, we'll check in on the app's other metrics, as well as visualize this revenue milestone by a new one: comparing it to the global box office revenue of some of 2016's most anticipated summer movies. In just two months, Pokémon GO has become a financial success on the level of—and in many cases surpassing—major motion pictures, as you'll see in the following chart.

A True Summer Blockbuster

Consumers may not have been snapping up movie tickets this summer—as any box office analyst will tell you—but they were sinking money into PokéCoins, the virtual currency used in Niantic's mobile hit.

Using estimated worldwide gross revenue from Sensor Tower's Store Intelligence, we compared how Pokémon GO's earnings stacked up against five major Hollywood releases from the same time period. As you can see in the chart above, the game surpassed the global haul of movies such as Ghostbusters, Star Trek Beyond, and Warcraft—all without any significant paid advertising.

Also, while it is no longer the No. 1 grossing app in some countries, Pokémon GO continues to earn more than $4 million in worldwide net revenue each day, a figure that has remained fairly consistent over the past several weeks. It's also worth noting that that the game has yet to release in several large markets, including China and India.

Downloads Near 200 Million While Active Players Remain Engaged

As is common with most mobile game launches driven by viral popularity and early adopters, global installs of Pokémon GO have decreased over time, but it has nevertheless managed to surpass 180 million worldwide downloads in its first two months on the App Store and Google Play.

To look at this feat from another perspective, we estimate that Pokémon GO has been installed on more than 12 percent of all active U.S. smartphones at some point.

In addition, as of August 30, the average amount of time spent in the game daily by active U.S. players (on iOS) is an impressive 32 minutes—practically unchanged from where it was during its launch week.

By any measure, Pokémon GO continues to impress. It remains the highest grossing mobile game in the U.S., and it still occupies a top five spot for mobile game downloads on the App Store and Google Play. Again, this is with very minimal paid advertising, and (still) without major content updates from Niantic. That content will hopefully arrive sooner rather than later in order to maintain this earning momentum and re-engage inactive players.