It’s not terribly uncommon for research firms and the like to take pop culture phenomenons, market trends and the like and analyze them years after the fact to produce handy charts and graphs that break down their DNA quite nicely and give some insight as to their success and how they may affect the future of their space. It’s not too often, however, that somebody produces such resources while a trend is smack in the middle of happening. That is, of course, exactly what Touchstone Research has done. All of the craziness, all of the money, all of the fever, has been nicely compressed into a somewhat painless, if a bit long, infographic for the masses to refer to.
Looking at the game from the perspective that it may be the kickoff point for augmented reality to rise to popularity, the infographic starts off with just how popular the game has become. The numbers are, frankly, pretty staggering. For starters, the game garnered a $9 billion increase in Nintendo’s market worth within 5 days of launch, and became the top-grossing app in the US within less than a day. Roughly $1.6 million per day in revenue and upwards of 21 million daily active users make Pokemon GO literally the objectively and unquestionably biggest mobile game in history. Across 26 countries, the app has managed a retention rate of about 70%, versus roughly 30% for most apps.
Moving to the topic of augmented reality, it’s clear that the industry is set for growth, but just how much? Speculation on that is included in the infographic; analysts are expecting the augmented and virtual reality spaces to hit a combined $120 billion in total market value by 2020. A number of big names, including Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Apple are all either investing in or actively developing some sort of augmented reality-related project, promising to push innovation in the space to new heights in the near future and possibly even drive more growth than current projections have in the cards. As for how Pokemon GO has affected the augmented reality playing field, the infographic does not quite touch on it; since the game has only been out for one month and the augmented reality field isn’t set to really heat up for a few more months or so, it’s a bit early to tell.