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A_C_E on 21 November 2014
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vkaraujo said:
GTAexpert said:
vkaraujo said:

We are talking about the whole IP, not top selling game of either. GTA IP managed to sell 140M, while Pokemon sold over 230M.

The GTA series sold over 185 million units by May 2014 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/grand-theft-auto-series-sales-climb-to-185-million-units-how-many-do-you-own/1100-6419898/

 

Anyways sales of an entire IP doesn't indicate its popularity.  Individual games do and that's where GTA outsells Pokemon. Any series can sell a lot with annual releases.

We are going to disagree on that subject than, because i don't see how individual sales would reflect the popularity of the whole IP. Both games are subjected to different business model/cycles.

GTA sells a lot more when it does releases exactly because of its bigger cycle, that creates a lot of hype and . Selling over 10M every year is also a lot and it does shows the strength of the Pokemon IP. And no, it is not "any series" that can do that.

Likewise, i would say that COD is more popular than both, even if it also loses to GTA in the years they release together. Selling 20M+ every year compensates for that.

Overall sales do not reflect overall popularity. If you don't see how individual sales reflect popularity then that's your problem, but I will try to help you on the subject. When a new Pokemon game releases (or any franchised title for that matter) and it sells 15 million units we can safely assume 15 million people are playing it. When another Pokemon game releases and it sells another 15 million units most of those people who bought the last one are buying the new one. Total sales of the two games = 30 million but just because two pokemon games sold 30 million combined does not mean that 30 million different people bought it. This is the point of franchising so you get repeat buyers.

GTA 5 sold 34 million units, if the last pokemon game couldn't even manage half that (with both X AND Y, two titles) then how is Pokemon as popular as GTA? Oh because it has more sales overall? According to your logic, if a single game were to sell 229 million units it would not be as popular as Pokemon because the whole Pokemon franchise has sold over 230 million. If I'm missing something please let me know.

And just so we're clear, I'm only pointing out the flaw in your logic, not which franchise is more popular as a whole. In the videogame realm GTA is one of the most popular titles but there is no denying how huge Pokemon is in and outside of the videogame market. Toy industry is huge, anime show was huge, trading card game was huge. I mean as far as recognition, Pokemon takes the cake quite easily imo.