- Pokémon Buying and selling Card Recreation Pocket launched globally on October thirtieth, 2024.
- In two years, internet income on Google Play and the App Retailer has nearly reached $1 billion.
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Pokémon Buying and selling Card Recreation Pocket has celebrated two years since world launch, incomes near $1 billion in internet income between Google Play and the App Retailer.
AppMagic estimates put internet income at $975.2 million in two years, led by Japan. It’s a sum that lands TCG Pocket among the many most lucrative mobile releases of current years, having even outpaced Pokémon Go’s early performance.
The sport launched globally on October thirtieth, 2024, with quick, explosive reputation serving to bolster DeNA’s video games section by more than 8,000% on the time.
Internet income has fallen removed from its peak, nevertheless. After making $741.4m in its first yr, TCG Pocket has picked up simply $233.7m in yr two. That’s a 68% decline year-over-year, though precise spending could differ when contemplating its internet store. Publishers have been generating significant revenue from their very own direct-to-consumer platforms.
From sturdy beginnings
Pokémon’s bodily TCG has been promoting for many years, with tens of billions of playing cards touchdown in gamers’ fingers and a few of these playing cards being value hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in resale worth.
The Pokémon Company, Creatures Inc. and DeNA unveiled Pokémon Buying and selling Card Recreation Pocket as a digital, cellular iteration of the cardboard sport in February 2024, providing gamers two free packs of playing cards per day and the choice to spend premium assets on extra. The mannequin was clearly designed to maintain gamers returning every day, with much more incentive for paying subscribers – eligible for a 3rd pack per day.
Mixed with a deal with the unique 151 Pokémon, nostalgia, secret playing cards and playground-style rumours, Pokémon TCG Pocket went on to launch that October to main success, producing $150.5m internet in its first month.
This meant a mean spend of virtually $4.9m per day, with a month-one peak at $6.3m on November ninth. In actual fact, November 2024 stays TCG Pocket’s most profitable month thus far.
The sport’s every day spending peak truly got here in 2025 with the launch of its third card set, Space-Time Smackdown. With new playing cards shifting focus from the 90s to the DS period of the mid-2000s, every day spending returned to the hundreds of thousands and reached a then-record of $6.8m on January thirtieth. Come February 1st, 2025, the determine reached $7.4m, a key contributor to the sport’s return to progress that month.
February 2025 ended with one other DS-themed pack, Triumphant Gentle, accountable for Pokémon TCG Pocket’s most profitable day thus far. On February twenty eighth final yr, the digital card sport picked up near $7.5m in internet income, coinciding with the pack’s launch.
These two highest-earning days within the sport’s historical past had been accountable for 19% of February 2025’s income alone, in addition to nearly 2% of lifetime income.
Current outcomes
Whereas newer pack releases have constantly spiked income every month, every day earnings in yr two had been unable to surpass $3m. The sport hasn’t surpassed $2.5m since March 2026.
It’s nonetheless a profitable sport within the context of the broader business, presently thirtieth within the top-grossing charts for 2026 and above the likes of Honkai: Star Rail, Conflict of Clans and Disney Solitaire, but it surely’s a pointy fall from tenth place in 2025.
TCG Pocket doesn’t have in-game advertisements as an extra income supply, both.
The most recent card units have targeted on totally different ideas greater than Pokémon generations, akin to Group Rocket’s Ambition in August 2026. The sport’s UI was up to date with a Group Rocket theme and the playing cards featured Pokémon from throughout the 30-year-old franchise. Spending spiked by 149% upon the set’s launch on August twenty seventh, making $2.1m.
The present set, Twin Fusion, has launched playing cards with two varieties for the primary time in Pokémon TCG historical past, akin to Mega Greninja being each Water and Darkness. In fight, such Pokémon deal bonus harm to opponents with a weak spot to both kind listed.
Twin Fusion launched on October twenty ninth simply in time for the anniversary, with the sport producing $1.3m that day. A second anniversary marketing campaign started on the thirtieth with rewards like a assured uncommon pull, particular missions and promo playing cards.
A brand new weekly particular pack has additionally been launched alongside the every day free playing cards formulation, presently that includes full-art playing cards of each starter Pokémon from Bulbasaur to Quaxly.
The success of Pokémon TCG Pocket helped land DeNA in our Top 50 Mobile Game Makers of 2026 list.