Niantic's Monster Hunter Now Hit 5M Downloads - Where's the Revenue?

Monster Hunter Now has been live for just about a month and already been downloaded more than 5M times from the App Store and Google Play, according to our estimates.

The AR role playing game from Capcom and Niantic, the company that brought Pokemon Go to the world, follows many games like it by being free to play and offering in-app purchases for the game's currency which can then be used to buy characters and weapons.

5M downloads is a lot of downloads, but if you've been a reader for a while you know what I'm asking - Is it making any money?

Yes, yes it is!

Our estimates show that in its first month on the App Store and Google Play, Monster Hunter Now earned $21.5M of net revenue. And that's net which means what Niantic, the game's publisher, gets to keep after Apple and Google deduct their fees.

Revenue has been pretty consistent with a few spikes indicating we can continue to expect this level of revenue moving forward. The trend isn't growing a lot, but as with other games this year, revenue growth will hinge on updates and in-app events.

The App Store is responsible for the majority of the revenue - $16.5M vs. $5M from Google Play, which is pretty normal for games.

What's interesting is where the majority of money is coming from, and in the case of Monster Hunter Now, it's Japan!

Japan was responsible for 56% of the game's revenue in the first month - that's nearly $13M of net revenue.

The US wasn't second on the list, Hong Kong was, earning the title $3M of net revenue for a 15% share of the total. The US was 3rd, contributing 12%.

The release has been well received with nearly 300K ratings, 95% of which are positive. Off the stores, the game has been praised for its graphics and use of augmented reality. Niantic is a master of that, so I'm not surprised.

But... there's a lot of competition. The App Store and Google Play are getting more games that want attention that growth will rely on how well the game can evolve.