Pokémon Go, the craze that is getting people out of their houses and onto the streets in search of little monsters, could add as much as $3 billion in incremental revenue to Apple’s bottom line in the next few years, according to Needham analyst Laura Martin.
In an note to investors, Martin said that one game — Candy Crush — generated over $10 billion per year in revenues during 2013 and 2014. Pokémon Go is a much bigger hit already, with about 10 times the number of players. At this time, the game is estimated to have about a 6 percent market share in the United States. If the game expands to many more countries where Apple has App Stores and market penetration peaks around 20 percent, the company could pull in about $3 billion in revenue over the next 12 to 24 months.
That level of additional income might have the effect of also boosting Apple’s market capitalization by as much as $5.5 billion, or about $1 per share. Oddly enough, Martin thinks that Apple’s short-term cash flow from Pokémon Go will be better than Nintendo’s. The gaming company only owns 33 percent of the Pokémon Company and a 30 percent stake in the game developer, Niantic.
