Following Niantic’s decision to hike up the price of Remote Raid Passes to encourage players to participate in more in-person raids, a report came out from a third-party mobile market source called Appmagic (first reported by mobilegamer.biz) that claimed Pokemon Go’s revenue was at its lowest point since February 2018. Frustrated Pokemon Go players on social media celebrated this as a sign that Niantic was suffering the consequences of its anti-player decisions. Clearly, people are fed-up with the price increases and Niantic is feeling the pressure. Or at least, that’s what everyone thought, until Niantic came out and said the revenue data was completely inaccurate.
In a statement to Eurogamer, a Niantic rep said “We generally don't comment on third-party estimates of our revenue as they are often incorrect, which is the case here. Our revenue so far in 2023 is up on last year.” It goes on to say that while the company doesn’t focus on month to month trends because so much depends on live events, but it has seen an increase in in-person raiding since the Remote Raid Pass changes were made. Whatever impact angry players were hoping to have, it doesn’t seem like it’s had an effect.
We don’t know actual revenue figures for Pokemon Go, and Niantic isn’t under any obligation to tell us. A lot of people are doubting Niantic’s claim here. It could be a lie, but I don’t think so. Online communities tend to overestimate how much impact they can have on a game through consumer activism, like boycotting Pokemon Go, but the reality is that even a giant subreddit page with over four million members is still just a tiny sample of the entire playerbase. An upset community doesn’t really have that much power, especially over something as massive as Pokemon.
It’s natural for people to want to have their voices heard when they’re upset. When a group of players decides to boycott something, its generally because they’re unhappy with something the developer has done and they want it to change. Pokemon Go players on social media rejoiced when they heard the game was losing money because it meant that they had accomplished something with their boycott, and hopefully, Niantic will have to listen to them.
This isn’t just a thing with video game boycotts. You can see the same thing with the ongoing controversy around Anheuser-Busch for doing a video collaboration with Dylan Mulvaney. Every conservative bigot on the internet has been rejoicing over Anheuser-Busch’s lost revenue and plummeting stock price, even though none of those things are happening. It’s not enough to stop supporting a product or company you disagree with, the company needs to suffer for it too.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t boycott Pokemon Go if you feel strongly about Niantic’s recent decisions, as long as you also recognize that boycotting video games never works. We knew that here at TheGamer when we decided not to review or produce guides for Hogwarts Legacy. We weren’t under any delusions that the game would flop because the trans community was calling for a boycott, but that’s not why we did it. I didn’t buy the Harry Potter game because I don’t think it’s right to support an IP that benefits someone who poses a danger to marginalized people. Most people don’t know or care about this issue, but I had to do what I thought was right either way.
That’s the only healthy way to approach video game boycotts. We’ve learned time and time again boycotts don’t work, and in the case of Pokemon, seem to actually increase sales (remember Dexit?). You should vote with your wallet and abstain from supporting companies that do things you don’t like, but don’t get hung up on the effect you may or may not have. Do it for your own peace of mind, because the only thing you can change is yourself.