| GOWTLOZ said: 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. |
Two very different markets.
Mom/sister/30 year with kids ain't likely playing Grand Theft Auto even if you paid them to. Nintendo's IP do have the upside of being accepted by a far wider audience because they are family friendly.
There are pros/cons to both approaches, having a game center around sensationalistic violence can create "street cred" with male gamers particularily age 12-35 and can create a huge audience within that group, however the flipside of that coin is you likely alienate pretty much any other potential audience.
GTA is its own phenemonon for sure, but it will never have the reach Nintendo can have *when* Nintendo hits pay dirt with something. Though it isn't something Nintendo can even do on cue.
For every Pokemon or Pokemon Go, there's a Pikmin or Nintendoland that failed to be able to connect in the way Nintendo was banking on.
