The Pokémon video game franchise is a series of role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo. The franchise began with the release of Pocket Monsters Red and Green in Japan in 1996 for the Nintendo Game Boy. The games were later released internationally as Pokémon Red and Blue in 1998.
The Pokémon games are set in a fictional world populated by creatures called Pokémon, which can be captured and trained by the player. The player’s ultimate goal is to become a Pokémon master by defeating other trainers and collecting all the available Pokémon.
Over the years, the franchise has expanded to include many sequels and spin-off titles across various platforms, including consoles, handhelds, and mobile devices. The games are known for their colorful graphics, catchy music, and addictive gameplay, and have sold millions of copies worldwide.
In addition to the video games, the Pokémon franchise has also inspired a popular anime series, trading card game, and numerous other merchandise and media tie-ins.
Pokémon Franchise Stats
Here are a few of the most interesting Pokémon franchise stats and facts I was able to dig up. As always, be sure to check back in the future as I will be updating this post as new and updated stats become available.
- Pokémon franchise player count: 440 million games sold (2022)
- Total amount the Pokémon franchise has grossed in game sales: $90 billion (2019)
- Pokémon Sleep user count: 10 million downloads (2023)
- Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet player count: 23.23 million units sold (2023)
- The Pokemon Company has said Pokemon Scarlet & Violet were the most preordered games in their history.
- Number of Pokémon Shining Pearl players: 6 million games sold in launch week
- Number of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond players: 6 million games sold in launch week
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus player count: 14.63 million players (2023)
- Pokémon Ultra Sun player count: 8.98 million players (2020)
- Pokémon Ultra Moon player count: 8.98 million players (2020)
- Pokémon Shuffle player count: 4 million game downloads (2015)
- Pokémon Unite player count: 70 million game downloads to date (2022)
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX player count: 1.99 million game units sold worldwide (2023)
- New Pokémon Snap player count: 2.19 million game units sold worldwide (2021)
- Number of Pokemon in New Pokémon Snap: 214 Pokemon
- Copies of New Pokémon Snap sold in Japan in its first week: 147,742 games
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky player count: 1.49 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time player count: 158,000 game units sold worldwide (2008)
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness player count: 158,000 game units sold worldwide (2008)
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team player count: 3.49 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs player count: 1.53 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia player count: 2.35 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- Pokémon Ranger player count: 270,000 game units sold worldwide (2008)
- Pokémon Dash player count: 348,000 game units sold in Japan (2013)
- Pokémon Conquest player count: 1 million games sold (2021)
- Pokémon Diamond player count: 17.67 million games sold (2019)
- Pokémon Platinum player count: 1.9 million game units sold worldwide (2009)
- Pokémon Trozei! player count: 293,000 game units sold in Japan (2013)
- Pokémon Black 2 player count: 8.52 million players (2020)
- Pokémon White 2 player count: 8.52 million players (2020)
- Hey You, Pikachu! player count: 1.83 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- How many people play Pokémon Cafe Mix? 5 million downloads to date (2020)
- Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness player count: 1.42 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- Pokémon Colosseum player count: 2.41 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- PokéPark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure player count: 1.25 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- Pokémon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire player count: 1.37 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- Number of Pokémon Home users: 7 million installs (2020)
- How many people played Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team? 2.2 million game units sold worldwide (2007)
- Pokémon Battle Revolution player count: 1.95 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- Pokémon Stadium 2 player count: 2.54 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- Pokémon Stadium player count: 1.7 million game units sold worldwide (2001)
- Pokémon Snap player count: 5.46 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- Pokken Tournament player count: 1.8 million games sold (2020)
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity player count: 1.37 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon player count: 1.65 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- Pokémon Rumble Blast player count: 1.4 million game units sold worldwide (2014)
- Detective Pikachu player count: 104,080 games sold (2019)
- Pokémon Ruby And Sapphire player counts: 16.2 million games sold (2019)
- Pokémon FireRed And LeafGreen? player count: 12 million games sold (2019)
- Pokémon Emerald player count: 7 million games sold (2019)
- Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire player count: 14.23 million games sold (2019)
- Pokémon X and Y player count: 16.42 million games sold (2019)
- Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver player count: 12.72 million games sold (2019)
- Pokémon Black and White player count: 15.64 million games sold (2019)
- Pokémon Diamond and Pearl player count: 17.67 million games sold (2019)
- Pokémon Red, Green And Blue player count: 31.3 million games sold
- Pokémon Gold And Silver player count: 23.1 million games sold
- Pokémon Yellow player count: 14.6 million games sold
- How many people played Pokémon Crystal? 6.3 million games sold
- How many people played Pokémon Pinball? 5.3 million games sold
- Pokémon Sword and Shield player count: 26.02 million units sold (2023)
- Total number of Pokémon Masters downloads: 50 million (2024)
- Total revenue generated by Pokémon Masters EX: $300 million (2024)
- Amount of revenue that Pokémon Masters EX generated in its first year: $75 million
- Number of Pokémon Masters EX trainers: 22.7 million (2020)
- Pokémon Let’s Go player count: 13.83 million games sold since launch (2021)
- Number of Pokémon Quest downloads: 10 million (2019)
- Amount Pokémon Quest made in its first week on mobile: $3 million
- Amount Pokémon Quest made total: $9.5 million (2019)
- Pokémon Sun and Moon player count: 16.25 million players (2020)
- Number of Pokémon Sun and Moon games sold in their first week globally (combined): 10 million games
Pokémon Go Statistics
- Pokémon Go player count: 678 million downloads (2023)
- How many people play Pokémon Go monthly? 147 million monthly active players
- Number of Pokémon Go players in the US: 164 million app installs (2023)
- Total revenue for Pokémon Go: $6 billion in total player spending (2022)
- Pokémon Go revenue from Android devices: $3.1 billion (2022)
- Pokémon Go revenue from iOS devices: $2.8 billion (2022)
- Pokémon Go total installs on Android devices: 517.2 million installs (2022)
- Pokémon Go total installs on iOS devices: 160.8 million installs (2022)
- Average amount of Pokémon Go revenue per day since release: $4 million (2019)
- Percentage of Pokémon Go revenue that has come from the US: 36.6% (2021)
- Percentage of Pokémon Go revenue that has come from Japan: 32% (2021)
- Number of friend connections that have been made on Pokémon Go: 113 million (2018)
- Percentage of Android devices in the US that have Pokémon Go installed on them: 10.81% (2016)
- Percentage of US Android owners that use Pokémon Go daily: 5.92% (2016)
- Amount of time Pokémon Go users spend in the app daily: 26 minutes (2016)
- Pokémon Go revenue (annual):
- 2022: $703 million
- 2021: $1.2 billion
- 2020: $1 billion
- 2019: $894 million
- 2018: $816 million
- 2017: $589 million
- 2016 (launch year): $832 million
(source)
- Pokémon Go revenue (monthly):
- March 2020: $111 million
- August 2019: $176 million
- July 2019: $63.5 million
- May 2019: $55 million
- April 2019: $65 million
- March 2019: $67 million
- February 2019: $57.4 million
- January 2019: $68.1 million
- December 2018: $75 million
- November 2018: $80 million
- October 2018: $73 million
- September 2018: $84.8 million
- Estimated amount Pokémon Go made in its first day: between $3.9 million-$4.9 million
- Estimated amount of revenue Pokémon Go generates daily: $2 million daily (2016)
- Pokémon Go 2021 In-Game Stats:
- What are the Rarest Pokémon to find in Pokémon Go: Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Ditto, Mew and Mewtwo (2016)
- Percentage of Pokémon Go players that are between the ages of 18-34: 78% (2016)
- What is the Largest Pokémon Go demographic: Men, 21-27 (2016)
- Pokémon Go had more first week downloads from the Apple App Store than any other app in history.
- Number of days it took Pokémon Go to cross 50 million worldwide downloads: 19
- Increase in steps that Pokémon Go players take now versus before they started playing it: 26% more steps (2016)
- Number of steps Pokémon Go players have taken playing it: 144 billion steps (2016)
- Pokémon Go was the fastest mobile game to earn $600 million in revenue (90 days).
- Pokémon Go accounted for 45% of all time spent with Android games in Q3 2016!
- Number of Pokémon that Pokémon Go users have caught: 88 billion (2017)
- Number of visits Pokémon Go has driven to sponsored locations: 500 million visitors (2017)
- Number of sponsored locations for Pokémon Go: 35,000 (2017)
- Estimated number of traffic accidents that have been caused by people playing Pokémon Go: 100,000 accidents (2017)
- How many Pokémon are there in Pokémon Go? 300 (2017)
- Reported amount that Pokémon Go made Nintendo in profit in 2016: $180 million
- Rumored amount that sponsors pay Niantic for Pokémon Go sponsored locations: $0.50 per visitor (2017)
- Most popular Pokémon go Team (based on Social Media mentions): Team Mystic (43%) (2016)
- Second most popular Pokémon go Team (based on Social Media mentions): Team Valor (32%) (2016)
- Scientific explanation for Team Mystic being the most popular Pokémon Go team choice: It’s the middle option
- Number of new Pokémon added to Pokémon Go in generation 2: 80
- Amount of time it took Pokémon Go to reach the top of the highest-grossing app chart in the US: 13 hours
- Amount Nintendo’s market value increased the first 5 days after Pokémon Go was launched: $9 billion
- Number of Pokémon-themed playlists that have popped up on Spotify: 197,000
- Percentage of Australian Android owners that use Pokémon Go daily: 6.60% (2016)
- Percentage of New Zealand Android owners that use Pokémon Go daily: 7.98% (2016)
- Percentage of Android devices in Australia that have Pokémon Go installed on them: 16.04% (2016)
- Percentage of Android devices in New Zealand that have Pokémon Go installed on them: 15.13% (2016)
- Number of countries Pokémon Go now has users in: 100 countries (2016)
- Number of markets Niantic wants to bring Pokémon Go to: 200 (2016)
- 7 out of 10 people that download Pokémon Go return to the app the next day. (2016)
- Amount Pokémon Go earned between October 25-29, 2016 (during Halloween promotion): $23.3 million (2.3x more than the prior week)
- Spike in Pokémon Go usage during the Halloween promotion: 13.2%
- Average Pokémon Go revenue per daily active user: $0.25 (2016)
- Reported amount that was invested by Nintendo and Google into developer of Pokémon Go: $30 million
- Amount Pokémon Go is expected to generate for Apple in the first 24 months: $3 billion (2016)
- Pokémon Go’s daily usage is twice as much on Android apps than the Facebook app. (2016)
- Number of McDonald’s in Japan that have been turned into sponsored Pokémon Go Gyms: 3,000 (2016)
- Number of people that interacted on a Facebook post about Pokémon Go to date: 153 million (2016)
- Number of interactions (posts/reactions/comments/shares) on Facebook posts about Pokémon Go to date: 645 million (2016)
- Percentage of Pokémon Go monthly players that play it daily: 20% (2016)
- Number of users on Pokémon Go’s busiest day (so far): 28.5 million (2017)
- Number of different Pokémon that are available to catch in Pokémon Go: 151 (2016)
- Number of different Pokémon that have been caught in Pokémon Go: 145 (2016)
- Percentage of Americans (Age 18-65) that have heard of Pokémon Go: 84% (2016)
- Percentage of Pokémon Go users in Canada that skip their day-to-day activities to play it: 30% (2016)
- Average amount of time male Pokémon Go players in Canada spend playing it daily: 2.2 hours daily (2016)
- Average amount of time female Pokémon Go players in Canada spend playing it daily: 1.6 hours daily (2016)
- First person to catch all 142 known Pokémon in the US: Nick Johnson
- 40% of Pokémon Go users that spent money in it have not spent money in any other mobile game this year
- Percentage of Pokémon Go users that are millennials: 38% (2017)
- Percentage of Pokémon Go users that are Gen Xers: 33% (2016)
- Percentage of Pokémon Go users that are men: 57% (2017)
- Percentage of Pokémon Go users that are women: 43% (2017)
- Increase in sales of portable battery packs for mobile devices from July 10-23, 2016 (right after Pokémon Go was released): 101%
- China and India are the only remaining countries from the top 5 most populous countries in the world that don’t have Pokémon Go. (2016)
- One in four people that downloaded Pokémon Go in Japan play it daily. (2016)
- Number of people that talked about Pokémon Go on Facebook and Instagram in July 2016: 231 million people
- Number of interactions on Facebook and Instagram posts about Pokémon Go in July 20-16: 1.1 billion
- Pokémon Go was the top trending Android game in the US in July 2016.
- Number of Android Play Store downloads for Pokémon Go in July 2106: 100 million downloads
- Number of views the Pokémon Go subreddit received in the week following the game’s launch: 92 million views from 8 million unique users
- Number of Japanese MacDonald’s that were turned into Pokémon Go Gyms and Pokestops: 3,000 (2016)
- Spike in sales for MacDonald’s in Japan once it’s sponsorship of Pokémon Go was launched there: 19% (2016)
- Number of traffic tickets Japanese police issued for Pokémon Go-connected offenses in the first 2 weeks after the game launched: 727 tickets
- Estimated peak number of Pokémon Go users: 45 million (2016)
- Number of unique US visitors to the Pokémon Go app in July 2016: 55 million visitors
- Percentage of the total US mobile app population that visited Pokémon Go in July 2016: 30%
- Increase in sales of Pokémon-branded merchandise in July 2016: 105%
- Number of employees for Niantic, the maker of Pokémon Go: 70 full time employees (2016)
- Estimated number of miles Pokémon Go players have walked playing the game: 8.7 billion miles (2016)
- Estimated amount of calories Pokémon Go players have burned playing the game: 340 billion calories (2016)
- Estimated number of pounds Pokémon Go players have lost playing the game: 97 million calories (2016)
- Reported number of bicycle and car accidents in Japan related to Pokémon Go usage: 79 (2016)
- Average time for a Pokémon Go session currently: 5.41 minutes per session (2016)
- Average daily revenue for Pokémon Go at its peak: $16 million per day (2016)
- Average number of daily downloads for Pokémon Go: 700,000 downloads per day (2016)
- Percentage of Pokémon Go users that are between 16-25 years old: 21% (2016)
- Number of Pokémon Go users in South Korea: 4.2 million (2017)
- Pokémon Go was the most downloaded iPhone app worldwide in 2016.
- Percentage of Pokémon Go users that are 18 or younger: 32.5% (2017)
- Number of Pokémon caught in the 2017 Pokémon Go Travel event: 3.36 billion
- Percentage of Pokémon Go revenue that has come from the Google Play store: 54% (2019)
- Percentage of Pokémon Go revenue that has come from the Apple App store: 46% (2019)
- Total Pokémon Go revenue that has come from the US: $1.3 billion (2020)
- Total Pokémon Go revenue that has come from Japan: $779 million (2019)
- Total Pokémon Go revenue that has come from Germany: $96 million (2018)
- Total Pokémon Go revenue that has come from the UK: $77 million (2018)
- Total Pokémon Go revenue that has come from Taiwan: $48 million (2018)
- Number of gifts that have been sent to friends on Pokémon Go: 2.2 billion (2018)
- Average Pokémon Go daily revenue before the June 2018 ‘friends and trading’ update: $1.8 million per day
- Average Pokémon Go daily revenue after the June 2018 ‘friends and trading’ update: $2.5 million per day
- Amount that Pokémon Go live events generated in tourism revenue in 2019: $249 million
- Amount that Pokémon Go live events generated in tourism revenue in 2022: $309 million
- Revenue generated by Pokémon Go Fest 2020: $17.5 million
- Revenue generated by Pokémon Go Fest 2021: $21 million
- Number of Pokémon Go cheaters that have been punished since the beginning of 2020: 5 million (2020)
- Number of Pokémon Go cheaters that have been banned since the beginning of 2020: 1 million (2020)
- Number of Pokémon caught during Pokémon Go Fest 2022: 1 billion Pokemon
That’s all for now. Be sure to check back soon as we update all video game stats as soon as more are provided.