Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket celebrates second anniversary with $233m

• Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket launched globally on October 30th, 2024.
• In two years, net revenue on Google Play and the App Store has almost reached $1 billion.

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has celebrated two years since global launch, earning close to $1 billion in net revenue between Google Play and the App Store.

AppMagic estimates put net revenue at $975.2 million in two years, led by Japan. It’s a sum that lands TCG Pocket among the most lucrative mobile releases of recent years, having even outpaced Pokémon Go’s early performance.

The game launched globally on October 30th, 2024, with immediate, explosive popularity helping bolster DeNA’s games segment by more than 8,000% at the time.

Net revenue has fallen far from its peak, however. After making $741.4m in its first year, TCG Pocket has picked up just $233.7m in year two. That’s a 68% decline year-over-year, although actual spending may differ when considering its web shop. Publishers have been generating significant revenue from their own direct-to-consumer platforms.

From strong beginnings

Pokémon’s physical TCG has been selling for decades, with tens of billions of cards landing in players’ hands and some of those cards being worth millions of dollars in resale value.

The Pokémon Company, Creatures Inc. and DeNA unveiled Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket as a digital, mobile iteration of the card game in February 2024, offering players two free packs of cards per day and the option to spend premium resources on more. The model was clearly designed to keep players returning daily, with even more incentive for paying subscribers - eligible for a third pack per day.

Combined with a focus on the original 151 Pokémon, nostalgia, secret cards and playground-style rumours, Pokémon TCG Pocket went on to launch that October to major success, generating $150.5m net in its first month.

This meant an average spend of almost $4.9m per day, with a month-one peak at $6.3m on November 9th. In fact, November 2024 remains TCG Pocket’s most lucrative month to date.

The game's daily spending peak actually came in 2025 with the launch of its third card set, Space-Time Smackdown. With new cards shifting focus from the 90s to the DS era of the mid-2000s, daily spending returned to the millions and reached a then-record of $6.8m on January 30th. Come February 1st, 2025, the figure reached $7.4m, a key contributor to the game’s return to growth that month.

February 2025 ended with another DS-themed pack, Triumphant Light, responsible for Pokémon TCG Pocket’s most lucrative day to date. On February 28th last year, the digital card game picked up close to $7.5m in net revenue, coinciding with the pack’s launch.

These two highest-earning days in the game’s history were responsible for 19% of February 2025’s revenue alone, as well as almost 2% of lifetime revenue.

Recent results

While newer pack releases have consistently spiked revenue each month, daily earnings in year two were unable to surpass $3m. The game hasn’t surpassed $2.5m since March 2026.

It’s still a lucrative game in the context of the broader industry, currently 30th in the top-grossing charts for 2026 and above the likes of Honkai: Star Rail, Clash of Clans and Disney Solitaire, but it’s a sharp fall from 10th place in 2025.

TCG Pocket doesn’t have in-game ads as a further revenue source, either.

The latest card sets have focused on different concepts more than Pokémon generations, such as Team Rocket’s Ambition in August 2026. The game’s UI was updated with a Team Rocket theme and the cards featured Pokémon from across the 30-year-old franchise. Spending spiked by 149% upon the set’s release on August 27th, making $2.1m.

The current set, Dual Fusion, has introduced cards with two types for the first time in Pokémon TCG history, such as Mega Greninja being both Water and Darkness. In combat, such Pokémon deal bonus damage to opponents with a weakness to either type listed.

Dual Fusion launched on October 29th just in time for the anniversary, with the game generating $1.3m that day. A second anniversary campaign began on the 30th with rewards like a guaranteed rare pull, special missions and promo cards.

A new weekly special pack has also been introduced alongside the daily free cards formula, currently featuring full-art cards of every starter Pokémon from Bulbasaur to Quaxly.

The success of Pokémon TCG Pocket helped land DeNA in our Top 50 Mobile Game Makers of 2026 list.