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Forums - Gaming - Game Freak will only bring Pokémon to mobile if it solves a 'problem'

Blob on 14 October 2014
tbone51 said:
Blob said:


It would pretty much end the handheld market if you ask me. Pokemon is that important to Nintendo.


Nope, before XY came out, 3ds was nearly 40mil already. Not saying pokemon is irrelevant but 3ds was and still is in the same position it is now with or without pokemon

I feel like there is a point where you buy a Nintendo handheld safe in the knowledge that you will get pokemon eventually so why not get it early. Just having pokemon on your handheld sells 10 million+ hardware units IMO. That would be a huge blow especially with the current decline.



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Vena on 14 October 2014
tbone51 said:

Nope, before XY came out, 3ds was nearly 40mil already. Not saying pokemon is irrelevant but 3ds was and still is in the same position it is now with or without pokemon


It sells on future promise of Pokemon. It would be foolish to think otherwise.



tbone51 on 14 October 2014
Vena said:
tbone51 said:

Nope, before XY came out, 3ds was nearly 40mil already. Not saying pokemon is irrelevant but 3ds was and still is in the same position it is now with or without pokemon


It sells on future promise of Pokemon. It would be foolish to think otherwise.


though that is true, the people who bought a 3ds prior of XY announcement or even during 2013 most likely bought it for another game or two.

If XY wasnt released yet or any pokemon main game, 3DS would still be over 40mil now.



fleischr on 14 October 2014

The problem that'd solve is if Pokemon sells poorly after Nintendo's handheld's sell poorly.

Not a problem --- yet.



I predict NX launches in 2017 - not 2016

tbone51 on 14 October 2014
mZuzek said:
tbone51 said:

Nope, before XY came out, 3ds was nearly 40mil already. Not saying pokemon is irrelevant but 3ds was and still is in the same position it is now with or without pokemon

As others have said, it sells off the fact that Pokémon will eventually make its way to it, but I think it also sells because of retrocompatibility. There's a lot of people who would buy a 3DS and use it to play old DS games, like... well, Pokémon.

Look, I do acknowledge that since the DS Nintendo's handhelds have been less reliant on Pokémon (whereas the previous ones sold solely because of it), but it's still by far the biggest system-seller for every Nintendo handheld and by far the most important thing they have on their systems.


Im not disagreeing at all, I do understand what all you mean, trust me. If i had to give an estimation to that of 3ds with pokemon (which is nw) or pokemon announce gone to mobile before 3ds started i see this (imo of course)

3DS 58-61mil Lifetime (with pokemon)

3DS 52-55mil Lifetime (without)

Thats still a huge difference but not as big as some are replying



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DerpSandwich on 14 October 2014

I think he basically means that Pokemon will go mobile when handhelds finally die entirely. There will come a day when Nintendo releases a handheld and it fails so miserably that it's obvious the platform just doesn't work anymore, and when that day comes we'll start getting Pokemon and other games on mobile. I don't think it will happen before that time, though.



Currently playing:

Bloodbath Paddy Wagon Ultra 9

Vena on 14 October 2014
Ka-pi96 said:

You say that, yet don't present a single source?

The Pokemon Co. is owned by three seperate entities (technically 4 if you factor in the anime and movie production rights): Nintendo, GameFreak, and Creatures. It is effectively the non-game marketting arm of the brand. GameFreak is the game arm of the brand. And Nintendo is Nintendo.

Nintendo owns 32% of that outright, controls GameFreaks' shares as well, and the Creatures is a Nintendo subsidiary.

Nintendo owns Pokemon.



tbone51 on 14 October 2014
Ka-pi96 said:
tbone51 said:
Vena said:

It sells on future promise of Pokemon. It would be foolish to think otherwise.


though that is true, the people who bought a 3ds prior of XY announcement or even during 2013 most likely bought it for another game or two.

If XY wasnt released yet or any pokemon main game, 3DS would still be over 40mil now.

I am one of those people that bought it in early 2013 ready for Pokemon and while I did get other games (MK7 and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon) I can safely say I wouldn't have bought it at all if it wasn't for the upcoming Pokemon XY. I'm sure there are many more that wouldn't have bought it at all without Pokemon either.


which i agree with but not enough to make 3ds (or any hh) to decline as badly as you say. What 1mil? 2mil? 5mil tops? Its not the wiiu/vita with an install base of undr 10mil.

Like i said previously, it would definitely have an impact in HW sales, but not a decline as bad as some think



tbone51 on 14 October 2014
DerpSandwich said:
I think he basically means that Pokemon will go mobile when handhelds finally die entirely. There will come a day when Nintendo releases a handheld and it fails so miserably that it's obvious the platform just doesn't work anymore, and when that day comes we'll start getting Pokemon and other games on mobile. I don't think it will happen before that time, though.


In other words, no pokemon main games on mobile for another 50 years :P



naruball on 14 October 2014
tbone51 said:
mZuzek said:
tbone51 said:

Nope, before XY came out, 3ds was nearly 40mil already. Not saying pokemon is irrelevant but 3ds was and still is in the same position it is now with or without pokemon

As others have said, it sells off the fact that Pokémon will eventually make its way to it, but I think it also sells because of retrocompatibility. There's a lot of people who would buy a 3DS and use it to play old DS games, like... well, Pokémon.

Look, I do acknowledge that since the DS Nintendo's handhelds have been less reliant on Pokémon (whereas the previous ones sold solely because of it), but it's still by far the biggest system-seller for every Nintendo handheld and by far the most important thing they have on their systems.


Im not disagreeing at all, I do understand what all you mean, trust me. If i had to give an estimation to that of 3ds with pokemon (which is nw) or pokemon announce gone to mobile before 3ds started i see this (imo of course)

3DS 58-61mil Lifetime (with pokemon)

3DS 52-55mil Lifetime (without)

Thats still a huge difference but not as big as some are replying


The difference there is tiny (as small as 3m? really?)

Also, there's really nothing that we can base this on. Anyone's guess is pretty much as good as yours or mine. That is of course within reason. If someone says it'd sell  exactly the same or 5m lifetime, then that's not within reason. But everything else is possible.  

People tend to forget the snowball effect. If Gamefreak was bought by apple and the 3ds successor was announced, I think you'd see a much bigger difference than you expect. Many developers would lose faith in the system and wouldn't make games for it. With Pokemon, it's guaranteed a substantial install base.