According to data collected by Appannie, one of the leading mobile analytics platforms, Niantic has landed a slam dunk in terms of player engagement and gross earnings with the new Legendary Raids feature.
The app rank was looking rather mediocre prior to July 19th, a few days before the GO Fest. At that date, 0.69.0 was released and data mining has shown that Legendary Pokémon are coming: Pokémon GO’s return to glory was ready to start.
In the next two days the in-game sales and download numbers skyrocketed, propelling Pokémon GO to first place in two categories:
- top grossing US games and
- top grossing US app (overall)
Additionally, daily downloads improved dramatically from July 19th to July 26:
- July 19th rank:
- US-Overall – 110
- US-Games – 34
- July 26th rank:
- US-Overall – 34
- US-Games – 8
Unsurprisingly, the GO Fest sale is the leading reason of increased earnings, as it offers Raid Passes at a discounted price, padded with additional convenience items (Pinap and Lures).
As many players have invested into collecting an ever increasing number of Legendary Pokémon, Premium Raid Passes are required in order to play the game on a regular basis.
| Special Box | Great Box | Ultra Box | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Icon |  |
 |
 |
| Raid Passes | 6 x Premium Raid Pass | 12 x Premium Raid Pass | 16 x Premium Raid Pass |
| Berries | 10 x Pinap Berry | 20 x Pinap Berry | 30 x Pinap Berry |
| Modules | – | 10 x Lure Module | 20 x Lure Module |
| Cost | 480 Coins | 980 Coins | 1480 Coins |
| Individual item cost | 600 Coins | 2080 Coins | 3680 Coins |
| Savings | 20% | 53% | 60% |
| Savings on Raid Passes | 20% | 18% | 8% |
In spite of the GO Fest failure, Pokémon GO is holding strong, with increased playerbase spendings and download numbers showing strong evidence that the AR craze is far from over.
We have at least two more weeks of raiding to look forward to, with Moltres being available this week and Zapdos the next week. However, if our gut feeling is correct, Ho-Oh should be making a surprise visit in the week following Zapdos, extending the Raiding craze for another seven days.
