Analytics company looks at Pokemon GO's Valentine's Day event and its draw

Pokemon GO’s revenue has been in slow and steady decline ever since its peak in late July/early August. Most of its revenue derives from Japan but the United States is a close second.

During Halloween (October 26 through November 1) Niantic tried to scare up some sales by running a promotion that gave players double the amount of candy they would normally receive for things like transferring pokemon to The Professor or hatching eggs, in addition to the promise of players finding more “spooky” pokemon. The seven day promotion brought in $13.35M, a 47% increase in revenue from the seven day period prior. After the promotion ended, revenues continued their consistent decline. Niantic decided to try and recapture the hearts of players during its Valentine’s Day promotion but the love was not as strong this time around.

Even though the promotion was two days longer and better, six hour lures on top of double candy and more pink pokemon, it fell short. From February 7th through the 15th the game brought in $5.75M, just a 16% bump from the nine day period prior. Valentine’s day specifically was the least lucrative during this promotion.

Why?

It’s a combination of the following:

Halloween was closer to launch - There is a gradual decline in most data for Pokemon GO after its initial excitement.
Halloween was Niantic’s first promotion for the game so some of the novelty wore off.
It's colder outside.
Both promos had a weekend included but Halloween's weekend was closer to the actual holiday.
People who had dates or significant others were probably nudged to put the phone away for Valentine's Day.
Does the decline continue?

Even though Pokemon GO is in decline, it is still highly successful compared to most games. Its launch was simply so extraordinary that it is really just coming back down to a successful reality rather than slowly failing. It’s still quite cold here in Boston so we’re eager to see if Pokemon GO picks up steam as we head into the warmer months. Stay tuned!