Japanese Players Lead Pokémon GO Spending at Three Times the U.S. Average Per Download

The latest revenue and download estimates for Niantic's record-smashing mobile hit Pokémon GO reveal some surprising stats about how successful the game has been with players around the world during its first year of release. According to Sensor Tower's most up-to-date Store Intelligence figures, players in Japan have spent an average of $26 per download in Pokémon GO over the past 12 months, which is more than triple the next-closest average of $7.70 for the United States.

While the gross amount spent in Pokémon GO by Japanese players during its first year totaled approximately $318 million, it was the U.S. led overall revenue generation for the game with approximately $424 million of in-app purchases. However, when viewed in the all-important context of per-download monetization, it was nearly tied with Canada ($7.60) for second place. The U.S. and Canada ranked ahead of fellow English-speaking territories Australia and Great Britain, which averaged $6.20 and $5, respectively.

Among the rest of the top 10 revenue-generating countries for the game, France last in our analysis at $2.80 of average spend per download, or nine times less than Japan.

While Japanese mobile gamers generally monetize better than players in other countries, their affinity for Pokémon GO is especially pronounced. For example, Supercell's incredibly successful Clash Royale has seen about $23 in average player spend per download since its launch there last year, which is nearly equal to the $22 average spent in the game by U.S. downloaders.

To date, Pokémon GO has grossed nearly $1.2 billion in worldwide in-app revenue and has reached a unique install figure—one download per App Store or Google Play account—of almost 329 million.