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Hardcore Pokémon fans in Japan are spending a TON of money on Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket

Casey Baseel Nov 14, 2024
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Proportion of in-app purchases coming from Japan is almost nine times as big as the player base.

The Pokémon Company was no doubt happy when Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, the brand-new digital version of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, launched on October 30 and was downloaded over 10 million times in the course of just four days. Illustrating just how global a phenomenon the Pokémon entertainment franchise has become, Japanese fans currently account for only about five percent of the Pocket player base, with the other 95 percent coming from other parts of the world. The U.S. is the largest nation of Pocket players, contributing about one out of every three players (32 percent of the total).

So is this proof that Pokémon has outgrown its home country? Not necessarily, because there’s a bigger business concern for the Pokémon Company than how many people are playing the game. While back in the old days there was a direct correlation between a lot of people playing a video game and that title brining in a lot of money for its publisher, that’s not always the case in the modern era. Like many mobile games, Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is built on a free-to-play model. Players get a certain number of free digital card packs to open each day, but by spending money on in-app purchases they can acquire more packs, cosmetics, and other perks.

Predictably, Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is raking in cash right now, with over US$4 million in sales per day. And yes, a lot of that is coming from the U.S., though American players are only producing 27 percent of revenue, a smaller proportion of the total than their contribution to the player base. Meanwhile, Japanese Pocket players, the ones who’re only five percent of the player base? They’re contributing a whopping 43 percent of the game’s revenue, according to mobilegamer.biz, citing statistics from Appmagic.

▼ Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket preview trailer

That figure is even more staggering when you take into account that, within any free-to-play game user demographic, there’s always going to be a portion that don’t spend anything on in-game purchases, meaning that the 43 percent of revenue, around US$2 million a day, is coming from less than five percent of all players, since at least some of Japan’s Pocket players are sticking with the free playstyle.

It just goes to show that when it comes to opening their wallets wide for a series they love, it’s hard to match the enthusiasm of Japan’s otaku.

Source: mobilegamer.biz via Denfamico Gamer via Jin
Top image: YouTube/The Official Pokémon YouTube channel
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