Pokémon TCG has earned $100 million in IAP

💲Pokémon TCG has earned $100 million in IAP revenue just three weeks after launching globally. I took a closer look at how their in-game shop is designed, and here are quick observations:

1️⃣ 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯.
The shop appears right after the tutorial, before your first battle. It might seem a bit pushy, but in this case, it works because players naturally want to collect more cards (the strength of the Pokémon IP plays an important role here)—and the shop lets you buy currencies to open packs faster.

2️⃣ 𝘍𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭.
One of the first products promoted by developers is a 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. We recently discussed with Michal Korek in our webinar#5 how subscriptions are one of the most underestimated monetization features with the potential to boost revenue. Pokémon devs offer their subscription with a 2-week free trial, which is a smart move.

3️⃣ 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.
The shop uses popular conversion tactics like 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁-𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀, 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘀, 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲-𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘀 to encourage spending. These are classic strategies we covered in detail in Balancy’s book “Best Practices for In-Game Shops”. If you haven’t read it yet, I strongly recommend it.

4️⃣ 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱-𝘣𝘺-𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘯𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨.
The content of the shop is quite rich from the very beginning. To avoid overwhelming players, the Poke Gold shop is introduced first, with the other sections (Main and Event) introduced later on—a thoughtful onboarding approach.

Have you played the game? What was the first product you were ready to spend money on?