Nintendo’s hit app Pokémon GO has taken the world by storm, with Apple recently confirming that the augmented-reality game that forces players to explore the real world has become an App Store record holder. Never before in the store’s eight-year history has an app had so many downloads in its first week.
Despite a tumultuous launch marred by technical problems and controversial news stories, it seems Pokémon fever is rife around the globe, having topped the App Store charts since its launch. Apple is expected to earn $3 billion in revenue from the game over the next two years, according to an analyst, while Nintendo’s stocks nearly doubled before starting to decline again once investors realized the company only sees 10% of profits from the app.
Read more: what is Pokémon GO?
Meanwhile, Apple also confirmed that it has now paid out a total of $50 billion to app developers from sales on its App Store. That’s a lot, but is hardly a surprise for the most profitable company in the world.