Pokemon is go, go, go
How the latest game has made £2bn
If you believe the Pokémon Go phenomenon that burnt so brightly in 2016 has fizzled out; think again. The augmented reality mobile app that saw kids of all ages capturing cutesy pocket monsters at local landmarks may have been usurped in the headlines by more upwardly mobile video games like Fortnite, but its appeal perseveres.
In September Pokémon Go, developed by American developer Niantic Labs, had its best month of the year, raking in $85m (£65m) as players went on the hunt for a brand new creature known as Meltan. The hexagon nut-shaped Pokémon was shown at one of Pokémon Go’s perennially popular community events in Japan and then later revealed to be a brand new creature featuring in the forthcoming role-playing game Pokémon Let’s Go for Nintendo Switch.
Let’s Go is the first time that a fully fledged Pokémon game has appeared on Nintendo’s 20m-selling console, bringing in the series’ traditional exploration, capturing and battling, while looking to capitalise on Pokémon Go’s extraordinary success. As of September 2018, Pokémon Go has been downloaded 522 million times and has made over $2bn in revenue. Much to the surprise of even its creators.
“I was involved in the development of Pokemon Go,” says Junichi Masuda, managing director of Game Freak, the development studio behind the main Pokémon games. “But I didn’t think it would explode to that extent. But it’s similar to Pokémon from 20 years ago. The popularity of that was beyond expectations. Each time these Pokémon games come out I am continually surprised by how popular they turn out to be.”
Indeed, while Pokémon Go catapulted the pocket monsters back into mainstream consciousness, the series has been a global phenomenon for over 20 years. In 1995, series creator and avid bug collector Satoshi Tajiri imagined a game for Nintendo’s Game Boy in which players could trade “pocket monsters” via a new link cable. Players would travel a fantasy land, capturing monsters in Pokéballs and sending them out to battle. The first games Red and Green (series tradition dictates two versions of each game are released with unique species found in each) released in Japan for Game Boy in 1996.
Now it is reportedly the most successful media property on the planet, outdoing Star Wars and Marvel, spanning scores of video games, a card game, anime, manga, movies and merchandise. Across its lifetime, Pokémon has made an estimated $85bn for the Pokémon Company, a joint-venture by Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures Inc.
In that sense, any Pokémon game does not necessarily need to be supported by the unusual success of Go. But Game Freak recognises that the mobile app opens up an even more expanded audience for its mainline games. Development on Let’s Go started around 18 months ago, says Masuda, after the success of Go had become clear.
“We really had it in mind that we wanted to make this a game that children and new players could play quite easily,” says Masuda, who has worked on every Pokémon game since the original. “But it’s really just about a whole variety of people we want to play this game. We had the idea that adults who are currently playing Pokemon Go would be out and about playing Go on their smartphones and then when they come home they play Let’s Go with their children.”
While Let’s Go is heavily based on 2000’s Pokémon Yellow, catching Pokémon has been adapted to match Go’s simple aim and throw mechanics, for instance, while the initial knockings of the game have been streamlined to be welcoming to new players. There is also drop-in/dropout co-operative play, allowing a second player to help out with capturing and battling.
The Switch game can also link with Go, allowing players to transfer captured Pokémon from the app and added to a travelling party in Let’s Go. And as well as tapping into that Go audience, Let’s Go takes cues from the successful cartoon series, allowing players to choose the de facto face of the franchise Pikachu or the foxlike Eevee as a companion to be fed, petted and bonded with.
“For kids that only watch the anime, but don’t play the games, this version is probably the easiest for them to understand,” says Masuda.
“You see [villains] Team Rocket, you see other parts of the game that are quite anime-like. Things like Pikachu being a main character and being seen in the game. So if we are offering this game up for kids, this is the easiest for them to enter into. This is something that’s easier for them to enter into already having the relationship with Pikachu.”
Not coincidentally, there is also a new Pokémon movie due for release in November as the Pokémon Company continues to flex its considerable multimedia muscle. Its motto, “gotta catch ‘em all” applies, it seems, as much to Pokémon’s audience as the cutesy creatures that make up its bestiary.