When Pokémon GO was launched on the market, it is possible that no one imagined what would happen next. Niantic's augmented reality title based on the popular Pokémon game saga managed to benefit tourism of various cities that came to generate more than 200 million dollars.
249 million dollars for tourism
Pokémon GO arrived in July 2016 and it is likely that you remember how much media coverage it was. Millions of players took to the streets of cities around the world in order to capture Pokémon, conquer gyms and become the best Pokémon trainers. It was a bit crazy and when you saw the gatherings that were organized you hallucinated. But time was passing and the initial euphoria was diminishing.
Over the years, many thought that the fever for the augmented reality version of Pokémon had lost steam. And yes, that may have happened, because logically only the most fans of the saga continued to play. But for Niantic it doesn't seem like it was a bad deal. Thanks to microtransactions, Pokémon GO generated 832 million dollars the year of launch and 589 million dollars the second year, when it lost that initial pull.
Even so, in 2018 and 2019 revenues improved, the last year being the best of all with a total of $894 million in revenues according to Tower Sensor. Although the most surprising thing in history is not there, since there are already video game companies that are very capable of amortizing their developments. What nobody expected and that Ninantic itself has reported is that Pokémon GO was capable of generating some estimated income of 249 million dollars to the tourism sector.
The events held in cities such as Chicado or Dortmund with their respective Pokémon GO Fest or the Pokémon GO Safari in the Montreal area managed to generate 120, 56 and 71 million dollars respectively for the tourism sector. And it is that the number of players, or pokemon trainers as some like to call themselves, who traveled there was quite high.
More than 64.000 trainers came to Chicago and stayed for four days. To Dortmund more than 86.000 and they also stayed for four days. And finally, more than 39.000 people traveled to the Montreal area over three days.
Considering that this is a game that takes place abroad, these players traveled many kilometers in each zone looking for the different pokemons. And that implies that at some point they would want to drink or eat something, so the economic impact on the area it was high.
?? Alert! ??
Tickets to the #PokemonGOSafariZone in St. Louis, Missouri, US, are now available for purchase! Tickets are limited, so act fast. pic.twitter.com/428vrWcGyl- Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) January 24, 2020
With such results, it is normal for Niantic to go ahead with the game and your events. And not only with Pokémon GO, but also with other of its games such as the recent Harry Potter Wizards Unite