'Clash Royale' unseats 'Pokémon Go' after 74 days at top of App Store
Pokémon Go has been unseated from the throne that really matters: top grossing on the U.S. App Store charts.
Its spot was taken by free-to-play card battler Clash Royale, thanks to juice from its newest update, according to analyst group Sensor Tower.
The augmented reality game had enjoyed 74 uninterrupted days in that top spot, Sensor Tower said, even as it slipped down the Top Downloaded charts much earlier. It takes home bronze when it comes to longest reign as the top grossing app in App Store history, following behind behemoths Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans.
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Pokémon Go's fall could be contributed to a couple of things. Clash Royale's latest update, out Monday, added new cards and an additional tournament mode, all hooks for players to return to (and spend more on) the seven-month-old game.
Pokémon Go, by comparison, hasn't had a strong update since its July launch. Last week's Buddy update only changes the game for one of a player's Pokémon at a time, and part of the improvement is just cosmetic. Meanwhile, fans are clamoring for new features like battling and trading with friends, things developer Niantic Labs has put no clear timetable on.
But an important staple of any successful free-to-play title is giving fans reasons to open your app again months later (and thus, spend money). If Pokémon Go adds those, it can thumb its nose at naysayers that were just waiting for the magic to fade.
Chelsea Stark was the Games Editor for Mashable, where she covered everything from AAA titles, mainstream consoles, indie gems, mobile games and gaming culture. She handled news, feature stories and reviews. Before that, Chelsea was Mashable's Multimedia Producer, where she helped develop visual storytelling aids, whether they were photos of video. She came to New York in 2010 to pursue her master's degree in journalism at NYU's Studio 20 program, which focused on innovation as journalism is changed by new technology. Before coming to New York, Chelsea lived in Austin, where she did online journalism and social media for the local CBS affiliate. She loves good beer, classic Nintendo games, and all things geeky, and spends her time attempting to find anything close to good Tex-Mex in Brooklyn.
