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1 Million Sold in One Day - How does Pokemon continue to do it?
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It was 1996 in Japan when Pokemon first made its gaming debut, and 2 years later when it made the jump to the states and the rest of the globe. Ever since then the series has snowballed itself from an idea about capturing wild, forest creatures inside mechanical balls and having them battle each other, into a 15 year craze that has no end in sight. How does Pokemon continue to do it? Well, let’s take a look into its history for some clues as to why it continues to print Nintendo money.
Origins
Satoshi Tajiri — Pokemon CreatorMost people are familiar with Pokemon by the cartoon anime that made Ash and Pikachu household names, however in that same show in Japan, Ash’s name is Satoshi, named after the series creator Satoshi Tajiri, who also founded Gamefreak, the studio that develops the games even to this day. The story of Pokemon’s inception is an interesting one, but we’re not going to delve too much into that considering it’s all available on a trip to Wikipedia.
In short, as a child, Mr. Tajiri was fascinated by bug collections, so much so he wished to be an entomologist. However, he eventually found his way into game development and realized that he could use his love of collecting and form it into a game built around that concept. And so after creating a working games studio along with Ken Sugimori, who would eventually become the artist for the creatures, Satoshi pitched the idea to Nintendo and after 6 long years, Pokemon was born.
The game with two versions
Upon Pokemon’s release in Japan it was met with quite some hostility from critics. First of all, the game was made for a handheld system thought to be nearing its end — the Gameboy was entering its 7th year of life; and secondly, the game required two people to have different versions of the same game so all the Pokemon could be attainable for both players. It was a gamble no doubt, something that hadn’t been done before and yet Nintendo gave the go ahead. And to the surprise of many, Pokemon became a sure-fire hit that found itself not just taking over the wonderment of the Japanese, but kids worldwide.
For Nintendo, this was the second coming of Tetris, the original game that made the Gameboy what it was. But what exactly was it that made the games so popular? Obviously it’s the culmination of many elements coming together to create one of those moments in gaming where the stars and planets all align — sorta how an Italian plumber who jumped around a world full of turtles, and ate mushrooms to grow taller and save a Princess became the mascot for all modern gaming. But I like to think that Pokemon became what it is today due to its accessibility and simplicity.
During the mid to late 90’s, the only RPG’s that many people were familiar with were Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire, and Lufia, and all of those were pretty complex and featured storylines that not all too many young kids were interested in. Pokemon on the otherhand was a coming of age story, in which a 10 year old boy was allowed to trek across the world alone, with a team of creatures who would do whatever this kid commanded in hopes to become the best Pokemon trainer of them all. The idea was enough to get the younger set interested, me included.
The concept was simple — ” gotta catch’em all” — and the gameplay was executed perfectly. There weren’t a lot of statistics to keep track of in the game, and strategies were built around multiple Pokemon with assorted abilities instead of a set group of characters seen in most RPG’s. The ideas of Pokemon fainting instead of dying was also one that parents enjoyed, seeing a game that was more about team work and sport rather than fighting for the sake of violence. And the ability to trade with friends encouraged kids to actually have friends to trade and battle with, something that my family both loved and hated.
Poke-Fads; cards, cartoons, and movies
By the time the games had made their way to the West, the anime was already in full effect in Japan. And when the games caught fire in other part of the world, the tv show was licensed and dubbed, introducing kids, parents, and entire families to Ash and his Pikachu, the Pokemon who would forever be the series’ flagship character. And as the show entertained kids it also boosted the sales of the video games and then that translated into different types of paraphernalia, trading cards being one of them. Aside from the show and the games, the cards in themselves became a hit that no one had predicted. It was such a hot topic that even home shopping networks devoted hours of their programming schedule to selling Pokemon cards directly over the phone. And somehow, the series continued to sky rocket.
In the West, we were barely getting our first taste of anime, and so we really weren’t aware that Japanese cartoons traditionally received feature length movies shown in theaters. I still remember as kids went into their local theaters only to be interviewed by news reporters who were on location to get the “scoop” and inform unknowing adults watching the 5 o’clock news about this Japanese phenomenon. It didn’t end there; someone even decided to put on a full stage production called “Pokemon LIVE!” that went touring the country. And again, it couldn’t get any bigger, right? Wrong.
Beyond the first 150
After the initial Pokemon craze there was a bit of curiosity on the minds of fans as new Pokemon were touted in the first movie and even in the anime series, hinting that a new Pokemon game was coming down the pipeline. And just like clockwork, in 2000 Nintendo released Pokemon: Gold and Silver versions, and the anime series followed suit with Ash, Pikachu, and their friends traveling to the land of Johto where a whole new set of 150 Pokemon could be found.
Eventually however, it all did begin to wane. As time went on and as more movies were released in theaters a trend began to be noticed; less and less people showed up. Kids were growing up and the cutesy appeal of Pikachu wasn’t their cup of tea anymore. A few years passed and a couple of new games were released, the third generation with Pokemon: Ruby and Sapphire versions — introducing yet again more than a hundred new Pocket Monsters. And surpising to many, the games made quite a substantial amount of money. Now fast forward to 2007, well after the prime time of Pokemon’s best days, a new set of games were released, the 4th generation which included Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl versions. And this time they didn’t just make money, but they printed money. The DS Lite, the system that took the mobile job away from the original Gameboy was now the big player, and Pokemon was a driving force behind sales of the latest Nintendo handheld. Pokemon had seen better days in terms of popularity but for one reason or another the games continued to sell amazingly well, perhaps all in part due to kids who were now barely getting introduced to the series, as well as older players who wanted a nostalgic return to a life motto of “gotta catch’em all”.
It’s 2011 and Pokemon Still Lives
It’s been 4 years since the release of Diamond and Pearl, and 15 years since the launch of the first two games that propelled Pokemon into the hearts of millions. However, Nintendo and Gamefreak had to give it another go, and so just this past week they released the latest two games in the RPG franchise, the 5th generation which include Pokemon: Black and White versions. Want to guess what the results of these two were? Well, if you take a look at the pattern then it’s easy to see what the answer is, but even then it doesn’t tell the whole story. Because you see, in one single day, on the Sunday of their North American release, Black and White sold a total of 1.08 million copies in the NA alone. That’s not counting Japan, Europe, and other locations around the world. And priced at MSRP of $34.99, using simple math that comes out to Nintendo making a total of $35,000,000 in a 24 hour span. To put that in perspective, the Diamond and Pearl versions sold 1.04 million copies in a span of about a week back in 2007, which is an impressive feat in it of itself, but it just goes to show you that Pokemon is not dying any time soon.
So who’s buying these games?
Most of Pokemon’s continued success comes from its ability to stay fresh and yet still remain pure to its original gameplay style. Keeping it simple is the reason for why people continue to keep coming back to it, and it’s apparent that whether they’re young or old, enjoying the adventure, training up these Pokemon, and trading them with friends is what it’s all about. Think of the series as the anti-Call of Duty, and perhaps that’s the reason why so many turn to a world where kids can travel freely within their towns and cities, near and far, happily along with their Pokemon instead of spending hours of time shooting and racking up kill-streaks against pre-teen n00bs on Xbox Live where people rage quit anyway.
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