Pokemon GO April 2023 earnings see it drop from top 10 list, here's why

Pokemon GO took the mobile gaming world by storm in 2016 and has posted massive gross profits over its near-seven-year tenure. However, it appears as though the bottom line for Niantic's crowning achievement may be experiencing some hardship. According to Mobilegaming.biz, GO fell out of the top 10 highest-grossing games in April 2023 and had its lowest monthly earnings in five years.

Based on Mobilegaming.biz, Pokemon GO pulled in $34.7 million this April, its lowest earnings in a single month since February 2018. Games such as Tencent's Honor of Kings ($102.9m), Mihoyo's Genshin Impact ($87.8m), and King's Candy Crush Saga ($84.3m) took the top-grossing spots, but Niantic's AR title has fallen out of the top rankings completely.

While there may be multiple reasons for this, many Pokemon GO fans believe it is due to Niantic's management of the game in recent months.

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Recent controversies may have affected Pokemon GO's revenue for April

Pokemon GO has been embroiled in controversy for quite some time. Niantic will never be able to make every player happy, but some of the company's recent decisions have been very poorly received, especially in late March and throughout April 2023.

The largest point of contention came in the form of changes to remote raiding, something that countless players depended on during the COVID-19 pandemic. After Niantic made a statement in late March prioritizing in-person raids, fans were understandably upset. The company limited the number of remote raids that could be played per day and also increased the price of Remote Raid Passes in the in-game shop.

This may have been the last straw for Pokemon GO trainers who lived in rural areas and those who had health conditions or disabilities that prevented them from raiding in person. Niantic was already being criticized on social media for what was perceived as lackluster events, reduced rewards, low variety of Pokemon spawns, and placing coveted Pocket Monsters behind paywalls.

According to data collected by third-party apps like Pokebattler, raid usage has declined substantially. Even players who don't use Pokemon GO companion apps have remarked on social media sites that in-person raids have been difficult to carry out in many parts of the world, and remote raids have essentially become worthless. Some fans pointed out that Niantic's focus seemed to be on players living in high-population areas like cities, while others believed that the game had been on a downward trend long before the shift in raid features.

All of this fan pushback resulted in the #HearUsNiantic campaign, which saw fans and prominent Pokemon GO content creators banding together to demand positive changes from Niantic. However, the developers doubled down on their decisions and even joked about the controversy surrounding remote raids in a tweet that was later deleted, further fueling the frustration of fans. This led to an increase in calls for a boycott of the game, with many trainers uninstalling it completely.

While Niantic's April earnings are certainly nothing to scoff at, the drop to #12 in the top-grossing rankings seems to indicate that controversy has begun to impact Pokemon GO's revenue. It remains to be seen whether the spurned player base will return, but if Niantic continues maintaining course or (potentially) gets hit with more controversy as 2023 progresses, it wouldn't be surprising to see the profits for the mobile title continue to decline.

The game may certainly continue to rake in millions in the future, but April's income report points to signs that Niantic's controversies have cost them some money. Even if this dip in profit is temporary, the developers would be wise to hear out community concerns, especially those as organized as #HearUsNiantic.