The Pokémon Co.'s Profits Rose By Nearly 2,500 Percent This Year

It’s been a good time lately to be the Pokémon Co., parent company of the Pokémon franchise. But thanks to a recent financial disclosure, we now know how good a year the Pokémon franchise had.

Analyst Serkan Toto said the Pokémon Co. netted a hefty $143.3 million in profit for the fiscal year that ended in February. Compared to the prior fiscal year’s profit of $5.6 million, that’s, as TechCrunch noted, an increase of roughly 2,500 percent.

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For the Pokémon Co., the strong fiscal year was buoyed by several factors. The company is coming off flagship titles like last year’s Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon and the mobile game Pokémon Go is nearing its one-year anniversary. The twin Nintendo 3DS titles were tremendous sellers for the handheld console at launch last November. As of January, both games had sold an estimated 14.69 million units and are among the Nintendo 3DS’ top selling games.

As for Pokémon Go, the mobile title has hit the occasional road bump since its hit launch last summer, but the game is still a strong performer for the Pokémon series and developer Niantic. Earlier this year, the app reportedly broke $1 billion in revenue for Niantic and in an interview with Brazil’s Globo newspaper, Niantic said it earns as much as 50 cents for each visitor to in-game sponsors like Starbucks and Sprint stores.

The title’s profitability has also normalized after its highs during its 2016 summer launch — analyst firm Sensor Tower has estimated the game is only bringing around $1.5 million to $2.5 million daily versus highs of around $18 million. Niantic has had to wrestle with issues like persistent hackers and location spoofing that threatened to break the game for users.

However, Niantic has publicly promised to bring several long-awaited updates to Pokémon Go soon. In an interview with Waypoint earlier this year, Niantic CEO John Hanke said the studio plans to launch features like player-versus-player combat and Pokémon trading. Niantic also expanded into real-world event partnerships aimed at encouraging Pokémon Go to head outdoors this summer.

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The strong financial performance for the Pokémon Co. has also come alongside the company’s increasing inroads into the mobile and smartphone space. While Pokémon Go remains the franchise’s biggest mobile property, smaller spinoff titles have allowed the series to go into more unique and mobile-friendly directions.

The company just released Magikarp Jump, a title where you take the role of a Magikarp trainer who competes against computer-controlled characters to make your Magikarp jump the highest. Magikarp, who has traditionally been one of the less renowned characters in the Pokémon catalog, is a fish-like Pokémon. The studio is also in the early stages of testing for Pokéland, an upcoming mobile title that will be anchored around combat and adventure throughout various island stages.