Pokémon Go Fest 2026 drives record revenue as Epic, Google drop settlement

Pokémon Go pulled in $15.1 million on July 11 during Go Fest 2026, its highest daily earnings in five years and just $2.3 million shy of the $17.4 million record set on July 18, 2021. The spike came during Niantic’s first-ever free Go Fest, turning one live event into the clearest answer yet to the question hanging over mobile gaming: store gatekeepers still matter, but marquee games can still overpower the market when they land the right event.

That revenue burst also made Go Fest 2026 the event’s second-best revenue day ever, a sharp showing for a live-service game that has been running for years. A free admission point did not dull spending; it coincided with one of Pokémon Go’s biggest single-day results in its history, underscoring how tightly the game’s economy still moves with seasonal content and event timing.

The same Week in Mobile Games Podcast episode 98, posted July 20 by PocketGamer.biz, also covered Epic and Google’s decision to withdraw their US settlement. The March 2026 deal would have lowered Google Play commissions to 20% or 9%, depending on transaction type, but the companies later jointly pulled back and reverted to the 2024 federal court injunction. Rival Android app stores were set to open on July 22, keeping the fight over app distribution and payment competition very much alive.

That unresolved dispute lands in a market where platform power is only part of the story. The episode also turned to the Top 30 China Game Makers of 2026, a list PocketGamer.biz framed as the China movers and shakers of the last 12 months in a market it called one of the world’s most important because of its billions-strong audience and the reach of companies like Tencent and NetEase.

The contrast was hard to miss: Google and Epic are still fighting over who controls Android’s tollbooths, but Pokémon Go’s July 11 haul showed how a single live event can still drive player spending at a scale that cuts through the noise.