Are Sony or MS capable of creating a cultural phenomenon like Pokemon Go?

[GOWTLOZ]

There is no answer to this. Pokemon is a popular IP, but its popularity comes through the anime and games not just the games. If Sony and MS were to make sitcoms and movie franchises of their iconic gaming franchises they would be a lot bigger.

But its more than this. Pokemon Go is a free app on platforms that everybody owns. All the big Sony and MS franchises have never tried this, they are $60 games on platforms that only gamers own. Not all gamers, as they play on a variety of platforms. If they were free apps on phones, maybe they could be a hit.

Pokemon Go has gone viral due to a number of factors including being viral which brings curious people to try it because everyone else is doing it. So if Sony and MS did make something like this with their current IP's would it be such a hit? Who knows, if Angry Birds and Candy Crush can do it anything can.

But can it do it at all? More likely, if they specifically made an IP to be this big it would be more likely since their current IP's are more suited to home consoles than smartphones, but they will have to spread beyond gaming to bring non gamers which can be done, and both would complement each other to raise the popularity of one another.

Also, GTA V is way bigger than Pokemon. The paid Pokemon games sell 15 million, GTA V has sold 65 million units. If it was a free app on smartphones it could have done more. If the series gets a new free game on smartphone who knows, it could be even bigger than Pokemon Go.