Pokémon's Unlikely Pandemic Profit

After launching on the Nintendo Switch this July, the newest Pokémon video game Pokémon Unite is releasing on Android and iOS devices today. While the game is free to play just like its recent big mobile hit Pokémon Go, The Pokémon Company managed not only to weather the ongoing pandemic, but to steadily increase their net income over the last couple of years.

Coasting on the success of the release of Pokémon Sword and Shield for the Nintendo Switch in November of 2019, the company managed to generate a net income of 169 million U.S. dollars in its 2020 fiscal year ending May 30th, 2021 with an annual growth rate of roughly 19 percent. Even though this isn't the highest figure in the history of the firm, it still is a record high for the last decade of operations, recovering from a low point of just $80 million net income in 2017. This success can in part be attributed to the overwhelming popularity of the mobile game Pokémon Go made by game developer Niantic, which recorded more than one billion lifetime downloads since its launch in July 2016 and grossed over one billion U.S. dollars in revenue in 2020 alone.

Even though The Pokémon Company is a private company and therefore not required by law to share financial statements, it has nonetheless been publishing its net income since its official inception every year, as is custom with many Japanese firms. Video game developers Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures jointly created the company in 1998 to manage Japan's Pokémon Center stores. Shortly after, it was renamed and expanded its scope towards other business areas. Apart from its Japan headquarters, it established regional branches in the UK, the U.S. and South Korea, with shareholder Nintendo managing licensing for the rest of the world.