The Pokémon franchise launched back in 1996 on Nintendo’s Gameboy and it’s had an amazing 25-year run so far. And thanks to Pokémon Go’s global success and staying power since 2016, the franchise has hit the milestone of $100 billion in all-time sales.
New data from SafeBettingSites says that Pokémon has become the world’s most valuable media brand. With $100B in all-time sales, that puts it ahead of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and Hello Kitty.
Pokémon has had a range of hit games over the last 25 years but Pokémon Go has been the catalyst to becoming the world’s most valuable media franchise. Even though it was released in 2016, Pokémon Go saw over 100 million downloads in 2020 with $1.2 billion in player spend. That made it the third-highest-grossing mobile game behind PUBG and Honor of Kings.
Other new games like Pokémon Home and Quest also have millions of players and added to the franchise’s value. Meanwhile, the “movie adaptation, Pokemon: Detective Pikachu (2019), earned the second-highest at the box office out of any video game movie as of March 2021 with gross earnings of $432M.”
You can check out all the 25th anniversary Pokémon news and happenings at the franchise’s landing page here.
