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Pokémon Go Shatters Apple App Store Record

By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
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By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 22, 2016, 6:48 PM ET
Photograph by Getty Images

The phenomenon that is Pokémon Go just keeps on going.

The popular mobile game brought in more downloads during its first week of release on the Apple App store than all other apps during their first week released on the store, Apple (AAPL) said Friday, confirming a report from gaming website Polygon.

Pokémon Go, which premiered on July 5, has won over millions of people who are drawn to the way it overlays digital graphics of adorable looking monsters onto the real world.

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Apple did not disclose any specific data about how many times people downloaded Pokémon Go or the previous record. But research firm Sensor Tower said Thursday that the number of Pokémon Go downloads in its first week dwarfs other popular apps during their first week of release.

Whereas Angry Birds 2 and Candy Crush Jelly Saga brought in 2.2 million and 1.8 million downloads respectively during their first week on the App store, Pokémon Go had a whopping 7.2 million downloads, according to the Sensor Tower data.

Additionally, Sensor Tower’s mobile insights head Randy Nelson told Fortune that since being released, Pokémon Go has been downloaded on both the App store and Google Play over 40 million times “and has earned more than $45 million in net revenue worldwide” from the two app store services.

“[Pokémon Go] is still being played an average of 30 minutes per day in the U.S. on iOS, which is more than Facebook’s average of 22 total minutes per day in the country,” wrote Nelson in an email.

But amid all those downloads and game playing, many Pokémon Go users have had trouble getting the app to work correctly and have complained via Twitter that the game’s servers have been going offline.

Trainers! We have been working to fix the #PokemonGO server issues. Thank you for your patience. We'll post an update soon.

— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) July 16, 2016

Nintendo and software development company Niantic created the Pokémon Go game. Niantic started off as an internal startup in Google (GOOG) and was spun out last year into a separate business.

For more about Pokémon Go, watch:

Google’s top cloud computing leader Diane Greene hinted that Pokémon Go runs on Google’s cloud service during Fortune’s recent Brainstorm Tech conference, which could indicate that Google’s servers are helping run the game and are occasionally going offline due to the game’s popularity.

Google's Diane Greene: "Whoever is doing Pokemon Go is doing an awesome job." (hint: it's her team) #FortuneTech

— Dan Primack (@danprimack) July 11, 2016

Also on Friday, Niantic and Nintendo finally released Pokémon Go in Japan after a long wait. As part of the Japanese release, McDonald’s Japan said that roughly 3,000 of its fast-food shops would become special gaming locations where players can battle with or “train” their Pokémon creatures, according to a Reuters report.

About the Author
By Jonathan Vanian
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Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

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